Lewis Hudgens (Mobile Funeral Home and Crematory); Rainbow Ranch Lodge (KBZK screenshot)
More than three years after filing a lawsuit accusing a Montana hotel of killing her husband via carbon monoxide poisoning while on their honeymoon, an Alabama widow is having her day in court. Catharine Hudgens on Monday appeared in Gallatin County District Court where jurors will decide whether the Rainbow Ranch Lodge and several plumbers should be held responsible for the 2021 death of her husband, Lewis Hudgens.
The wrongful death and negligence suit currently names the Rainbow Ranch Lodge and a swath of companies and contractors alleged to have worked on a propane-fueled boiler the suit claims gave off the deadly gas as defendants. Catharine Hudgens is seeking unspecified damages in the case.
Catharine and Lewis Hudgens on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, tied the knot in Florida before boarding a plane and heading to Big Sky, Montana, for their honeymoon on Monday, Jan. 11. They were married for less than a week before Lewis Hudgens was found dead inside of his hotel room at the age of 59.
According to a copy of the filed complaint obtained by Law&Crime, prior to the couple arriving at the Rainbow Ranch Lodge, the hotel had purchased and installed a new water boiler to heat an outdoor hot tub. The room that housed the new boiler was, the suit states, directly next to the room provided to the couple for their honeymoon stay.
Catharine Hudgens’ legal team alleges that holes had been drilled into the concrete wall separating the newlywed couple’s room from the boiler room. The suit claims that those holes allowed fatal amounts of carbon monoxide from the boiler to seep into the Hudgens’ room.
The suit claims that the boiler room was not properly ventilated, stating that an exhaust fan in the room “was not operational while the Hudgens stayed in the adjacent guest room.”
Additionally, Catharine Hudgens alleges that the hotel “failed to monitor carbon monoxide levels” in the boiler room, which would have warned them about the deadly gas being emitted.
The poisonous gas that allegedly flowed into the room left Lewis Hudgens dead and Catharine Hudgens severely ill and disoriented.
Upon arriving at the upscale hotel that Monday, the couple remained in their room for the entirety of the evening, ordering room service and watching the NCAA college football national championship game, the suit states.
Making matters worse, the suit alleges that on Jan. 13 and 14, Catharine Hudgens’ sister phoned the Rainbow Lodge’s front desk and requested that the hotel send someone to the newlyweds’ room to make sure they were well. However, Catharine Hudgens claims that no employee ever visited the room to check on her or her husband.
It was not until a general manager at the hotel on Jan. 15 finally opened up the couples’ room after getting no response from calling or knocking. Upon entering the room, the manager found Catharine Hudgens lying on the bed in a “severely disoriented” state. Lewis Hudgens was lying next to her, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, the complaint states.
“Had Rainbow Ranch staff checked on the Hudgens as requested, it is likely Lew (Hudgens) would be alive and Catharine (Hudgens) would not have been injured,” the document states.
Catharine Hudgens’ attorney, Justin P. Stalpes, and Alexander L. Roots, who is representing Rainbow Ranch in the proceedings, both did not immediately respond to a messages from Law&Crime.
An obituary for Lewis Hudgens says that he was affectionately known as “Big Lew” to friends and family and that he “passed away unexpectedly while honeymooning in Big Sky, Montana with his wife Catherine, whom he dearly loved.” The date of his death is listed as Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021.
