Wrongful death suit filed on behalf of ex-special ed teacher By Kevin Boneske For The News-Chronicle Family members of a former Kewaunee special-education teacher, who died March 31 following a house fire in the city, recently filed a "wrongful death" lawsuit in Kewaunee County Circuit Court alleging the owners of the home where she resided with negligence. Scott Delo, personal representative of the estate of Cheryl Ann Delo, and her parents, Melvin and Nancy Delo, all from Loyal, near Marshfield in central Wisconsin, accuse Emery E. and Mildred M. Ihlenfeldt of "carelessness and negligence" for the fire that caused Cheryl Ann Delo's death. Cheryl Ann, also from Loyal, came to the Kewaunee School District in 1991 and spent 12 years teaching Kewaunee-area special-education children. The Ihlenfeldts survived the March 30 fire, but Delo was pronounced dead the following morning at St. Luke's Hospital Burn Center in Milwaukee. The negligence alleged in the suit relates to the "construction, maintenance, inspection, and repair" of the house at 321 Kilbourn St. The suit further alleges the Ihlenfeldts "were negligent in terms of providing inadequate and/or defective smoke detectors, fire alarms and similar devices," while the fire and Delo's death "resulted from one or more violations of applicable statutes, ordinances, and/or regulations." The suit, which names the Ihlenfeldts' insurance company, Germantown Mutual Insurance Co., as a defendant, seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory damages, interest, costs, attorney fees and additional relief as determined in court. The defendants have been given 45 days to respond to the suit.