Ghost Ship building owner files bankruptcy, must pay $12M

OAKLAND, Calif. - The owners of the Ghost Ship warehouse where 36 people died five years ago in a fire have filed for bankruptcy in order to pay the surviving family members nearly $12 million, according to court filings. 

Chor Nar Siu Ng, and her children Eva Ng and Kai Ng, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 30 and wrote in their court petition that they plan to liquidate their assets in order to pay an estimated $11.8 million to survivors and families of those who died in the Dec. 2, 2016 warehouse party fire. The Oaklandside first reported the news. 

Most of the money will come from their insurance coverage. 

WATCH: KTVU reporter tracks down Ghost Ship building owner

An estimated $4.8 million would come from the proceeds of the sale of their properties, including the sale of the Ghost Ship warehouse, which has empty in Fruitvale since the tragic deaths. 

The Ngs are being represented by lawyers from the firm, Kornfield Nyberg Bendes Kuhner and Little in Oakland. 

Victim families and survivors sued Ng, the city of Oakland, PG&E, and master tenant Derick Almena, alleging the Ngs were partly responsible for the conditions that caused the fire. 

The proposed settlement would end the civil lawsuit. 

Last year, the city of Oakland the case, agreeing to pay $23.5 million to victim families and $9.2 million to Samuel Maxwell, who was badly injured.

 The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office had considered criminally charging members of the Ng family, but ultimately did not. 

Almena pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in exchange for a 12-year sentence for the deaths of the 36 people. He was allowed to be released from jail on house arrest as long as he agreed to be electronically monitored. 

The Ngs have remained silent, despite an attempt for a one-on-one interview by KTVU in 2017, and refused to give depositions in the civil lawsuit.