File photo A firefighter from the Parkersburg Fire Department enters the rear of 816 Market St. where a woman died Dec. 5 in a fire.

PARKERSBURG — A judge has ordered that the building where a 27-year-old woman died in a fire last month not be demolished, something an attorney for the owners said they had no intention of doing anyway.

The Dec. 5 fire at 816 Market St. claimed the life of Ashley Michele Kimble of Parkersburg, according to a report from the Parkersburg Police Department. The West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the fire and initially announced the cause was undetermined but likely accidental.

Kimble’s body was found in the third-floor apartment where the fire started.

Further information from the fire marshal’s office had not been released as of Thursday.

The property at 814-816 Market St. was the subject of ongoing litigation between the City of Parkersburg and the companies that own the building, Emanuel’s LLC and Greenmont Capital Associates. On Dec. 21, the city filed a motion seeking an injunction to prohibit the demolition of the building, claiming officials had received “anecdotal information that the Defendants intend to demolish the building in the immediate future.”

The city’s motion said that demolition “may preclude and interfere with ongoing litigations by the West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Office and interested third parties” and could eliminate “relevant and material evidence to such investigations as well as other matters.”

In a Dec. 29 response, attorney J. Morgan Leach said the city had not met the standards to receive a preliminary injunction and “the Defendants have no plan to demolish the building.”

“Given the fact that two separate investigations have now been conducted for which reports are forthcoming, it is in the public’s interest to now begin to clean up and repair the building and remove any hazards to the public that may exist,” the response filed by Leach said. “The Defendants have a responsibility to ensure the safety of its tenants and the habitability of the premises for those who remain in the building, as well as a duty to make the complex habitable for any of those tenants that have been displaced by this tragic accident as quickly as possible.”

Wood County Circuit Court Judge Robert Waters issued a ruling earlier this week granting the injunction and ordering that the owners obtain all necessary building and other permits for rehabilitation of the building, noting their counsel indicated they would do so.

The lawsuit was filed by the city against Emanuel’s and Greenmont in March 2021, saying officials believed there was unlawful construction without a permit there after an inspection was refused the previous month.

Two days later, Marietta resident Ari Gold filed a lawsuit against the city and several officials in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, claiming his constitutional rights were violated by the attempted warrantless search.

A judge dismissed the city from the suit but a jury found in Gold’s favor in the federal suit against city officials including Mayor Tom Joyce.

The case in circuit court remains open, with the city still seeking the ability to conduct a fire code inspection and the defendants proposing that it be performed by a private company.

In June, attorneys representing the city filed a motion to dismiss a counterclaim filed by the companies against the city, saying the facts had already been decided in the federal case.

In response, attorney Anne Labes, Gold’s wife, noted Gold was the plaintiff in that case, not Emanuel’s, in which he has a partial interest, or Greenmont, in which he has no interest. She also argued the circuit court case involves actions outside of the search that triggered the federal suit.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com