Feb. 21—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A Johnstown woman whose daughter died in a house fire last year has filed suit in federal court against a pair of Florida companies, alleging that faulty electrical wiring caused the fatal fire and that the companies neglected to make sure the house was safe to live in.

In court papers, the companies deny that they were responsible for maintaining the house at the time of the fire.

Latoya Pierce, of Oakhurst Homes, named as defendants 741HUGS902 Trust and Equity & Help Inc., both of which have premises at the same address in Clearwater, Florida, a suburb of Tampa. The companies buy, fix and sell residential properties.

Fire swept through a two-story home at 741 Highland Ave. in Johnstown's Moxham section on Sept. 29, 2021, killing two children, 15-year-old Nakiya Success and 8-year-old Zy'vre Gaines. Pierce's daughter is identified in court paperwork by the initials "N.S." The suit claims it was "caused by an arc fault and/or defective wiring."

Pierce's suit claims that the defendant companies "operated, controlled, leased, inspected, possessed, managed and/or maintained" the property and thus were responsible for keeping it safe to live in, but failed to ensure that fire protection systems were installed, that arc-fault circuit interrupters were installed, or that its electrical wiring was kept up to code.

For their part, the companies have asked the court to throw out the law suit.

Equity & Help Inc. and the company that Pierce identified as 741HUGS902 Trust, which states that its actual name is 741HIG902 Trust, claim in a memorandum filed responding to Pierce's complaint that control of the property had been transferred by the trust company to Tiffany Jones on May 1, 2020, more than a year before the fatal fire.

The companies state that Jones purchased the property under an "installment land contract," under which she was required to make regular monthly payments toward the purchase of the property.

As of Sunday, Cambria County property records available online listed the owner of the 741 Highland Ave. property as 741HUG902 Trust, c/o Equity & Help Inc.

Still, citing Pennsylvania case law on installment land contracts, the companies argue that Jones was the owner of the property as of May 1, 2020, with "exclusive control and possession" of the property, and that their role was essentially that of a mortgage-holder. They state that they only retained legal title to the property to ensure that Jones would continue making the required payments.

Thus, they claim, it was Jones who was responsible for keeping it in good repair, including maintaining its electrical system.

Jones is not named as a defendant in Pierce's suit.

Pierce is suing for at least $75,000 in damages and wants a jury trial. She is represented by Pittsburgh attorney Anthony J. Giannetti, of the firm Swartz Culleton PC. The defendants are being represented by Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP, of Philadelphia.