Bill Serge stands with his attorney Gary Lesser next to a photo on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., of his 85-year-old mother, Gloria Serge, who was killed in an alligator attack on Feb. 20, 2023. The Serge family filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Wynne Building Corp., which owns the Spanish Lakes senior complex in Fort Pierce where the attack occurred. (AP Photo/Terry Spencer)
The family of an 85-year-old woman who was killed by an alligator while walking her dog outside her Florida home filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the community’s property management firm.
Gloria Serge was walking her dog, Trooper, outside her Spanish Lakes Fairways home that abuts a pond in Fort Pierce on Feb. 20, 2023. Surveillance video of the attack shows Serge and the dog walking at the water’s edge while alligator begins to swim over from the other side of the pond. Seemingly unaware of the alligator’s looming presence, Serge and Trooper continue their walk until the 10-foot alligator lunges out of the water. Serge falls down as Trooper scurries away and the alligator pulls her into the water by her left foot. Neighbors, hearing her screams, called 911 but the alligator drowned her before first responders could rescue her.
Officials captured and euthanized the alligator.
On Thursday, her family filed a lawsuit against Wynne Building Corporation, which manages the retirement community. The lawsuit claims the company failed to maintain safe premises and should have removed the alligator because it was considered a “nuisance” as it exceeded 4-feet in length.
It also said because the property manager sent her a letter saying she had to walk the dog either in her backyard or at a dog run about a mile away, it essentially forced her to walk the dog near the pond.
“In other words, the Defendant encouraged, if not forced, the Decedent to walk her dog near a retention pond that it knew, or should have known, contained large, dangerous alligators that constituted a nuisance under the definition developed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission,” the lawsuit said.
Lawyers representing Serge’s family also say that property managers allowed residents and staff to feed the alligators in the pond behind her home which “substantially increased” the likelihood of an attack. The law firm also says it has evidence that maintenance workers in the community previously fed the alligator that killed Serge chicken scraps and named him Henry.
“There were no signs posted around the lake warning residents of the presence of an alligator, and the property managers encouraged people to sit near the lake by placing a bench along the shoreline,” attorney Gary S. Lesser said in a press release. “This flies in the face of common sense and warnings from wildlife experts.”
Serge’s family spoke at a press conference about the lawsuit. She was a mother of five, grandmother of 15 and great-grandmother of nine. She lived in the community for more than 30 years. Her son Bill Serge, 62, said he received a phone call about an emergency at his mother’s house.
“I was told there had been an event and law enforcement was on the scene,” Bill Serge said, according to Treasure Coast Newspapers. “But I never could have imagined the agonizing way in which my mom spent the final moments of her life.”
Wynne Building Corporation president Joel Wynne told CNN that as a longtime resident of the community, Serge knew of the presence of alligators and that they were dangerous.
“We certainly understand the tragedy and the feelings of Mrs. Serge’s family. However, we developed Spanish Lakes Fairways 37 years ago. We have approximately 3,000 residents. This is the very first time where a resident was attacked by an alligator,” he said.
