ST. LOUIS COUNTY – The mother of the 5-year-old boy who died last year during a storm in Jennings when a tree fell through his family’s home is suing the owner and manager of the rental property.

LaWanda “Nina” Thomas’ wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the two companies are responsible for a “large, overgrown and rotting” tree on the property that was struck by lightning and fell onto her rental property during a severe storm on July 1, 2023.

Her son, 5-year-old Robert “RJ” Lawrence III, was lying in his bed when he was killed, the lawsuit says. The tree fell on the house, “crashing through his bedroom, pinning him between the ceiling and the floor, and crushing him to death.”

RJ died two weeks before his sixth birthday.

The lawsuit comes more than a year after severe storms struck the St. Louis region, toppling trees, downing power lines and causing minor flash floods. The storm overwhelmed 911 dispatchers and, in particular, highlighted the city’s years-long struggle to answer enough calls in a way that meets national standards — something the city has since improved significantly.

Thomas’ lawsuit, filed last week, names Maryrose Properties 9 Oh LLC and Tiptop Property Management LLC as defendants. Neither company could be reached for comment Monday.

Thomas claims the companies were “careless and negligent” in failing to properly maintain the property and created a “foreseeable risk of harm” by failing to repair or remove the tree.

She said her foot was also badly injured when the tree fell into her house. Thomas said she has paid more than $5,000 for medical treatment and will need treatment in the future.

Thomas’s attorney, Jermaine Wooten, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Thomas told the Post-Dispatch last summer that it took her 45 minutes to reach emergency services after the tree crashed through her house. She said RJ was still alive when she first tried to call 911.

A friend of hers finally drove to a police station to ask for help.

The delay in response was similar to a similar incident during the same storm in St. Louis, where a woman also died after a tree fell on her car near the Grove entertainment district. Onlookers reported that emergency responders were slow to arrive, which government officials later attributed to the flood of calls.

Maryrose Properties is based in Ohio and owns the bungalow-style home in the 5200 block of Hamilton Avenue in Jennings, but no records were available about when the company purchased the property. The last publicly available deed shows the home was sold in April 2016 to a company called DBD Investments LLC, which has an office in Belleville.

Tip Top Property Management is headquartered in Creve Coeur and markets itself as “local market experts and St. Louis natives offering comprehensive leasing and property management services.” Thomas’s lawsuit states the company managed the Hamilton Avenue property for Maryrose when she lived there.

Thomas is demanding compensation of over $25,000.