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Read the press release here.

Family of Playwright Killed in Luxe High-Rise Fire Gets $2M From Building

By James Fanelli | August 5, 2015 7:33am
 Colleagues remembered Daniel McClung as a driven playwright and lover of theater.
Colleagues Remember Daniel McClung
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HELL'S KITCHEN — The family of a playwright who died trying to escape a fire in a luxury high-rise has agreed to a $2 million settlement with the insurers for the building's condo association and its property manager, DNAinfo New York has learned.

Michael Cohen, whose newlywed husband, Daniel McClung, died from smoke inhalation during the Jan. 5, 2014, blaze in their Hell's Kitchen building, said in court documents filed last month that he accepted the offer rather than file a lawsuit and let a jury decide.

Cohen said that, if he had gone to trial, he could have faced scrutiny over his and his husband's decision to flee down a stairwell in the 40-story Strand condominium rather than remain in their apartment during the fire.

"My attorneys informed me that the attorneys for The Strand and [property manager] FirstService Residential New York would claim that the [McClung's] negligence was a factor in the happening of this occurrence as he should have remained in our apartment," he wrote in a petition filed in Manhattan Surrogate's Court.

The couple, who had only been married for six months, were in their 38th-floor apartment when a fire broke out at 12:14 p.m. on the 20th floor. Cohen and McClung fled down a stairwell but only made it to the 31st floor when heavy smoke overwhelmed them.

Firefighters found the two, but by then McClung, 27, was in cardiac arrest and unconscious. He died two hours later at Roosevelt Hospital. Cohen also suffered severe smoke inhalation and was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

After McClung's death, FDNY officials urged high-rise residents to familiarize themselves with their building's fire plans and said that trying to escape a blaze isn't always the safest strategy.

"There is a natural instinct to flee," FDNY Chief of Operations James Esposito said after the fire.

"[But] 99.9 percent of the time you're safer in your fireproof apartment. If you do smell some smoke coming underneath your door, put some wet towels down and call the fire department.... You should not self-evacuate if you are on a floor above the fire. Stay put."

The Strand's fire safety plan called for residents to remain in their fire-proof apartments if the blaze is below their unit. 

The New York Times reported that fire notices are supposed to be plastered at a building's entry doors, but residents who spoke to the newspaper said they either never saw the notices, received them long ago or never read them.

The $2 million settlement will be split among Cohen and McClung's parents. Cohen will receive $666,666 and McClung's parents will each get $333,333. Kelner and Kelner, the law firm representing Cohen, will receive $666,666 from the settlement.

A Manhattan Surrogate's Court judge must still approve the deal.

A lawyer at the firm did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman at FirstService Residential also did not respond to a request for comment.