A lawsuit against the Quality Inn & Suites was officially filed Friday following the tragedy that is alleged to have caused the death of a Niles boy in early April.

Attorney Ven Johnson of Johnson Law, PLC announced that his firm has filed a lawsuit in St. Joseph on behalf of six individuals who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning at the Quality Inn Hotel in Niles on April 1.

The lawsuit includes 13-year-old Bryan Douglas-Watts, who died from his injuries.

“We have filed this lawsuit on behalf of Bryan’s family as well as three other children and two adults, all of whom suffered injuries from carbon monoxide poisoning,” Johnson stated in a press release Friday.

The victims were swimming in the hotel pool at the time of the incident.

The lawsuit was filed against the Quality Inn & Suites as well as its franchise owner, Jayesh Patel, and Choice Hotels International, Inc., who are responsible for the design of the pool heater system, including the lack of carbon monoxide detector/alarm.

Johnson said he hopes the lawsuit could help to prevent future tragedy.

“We hope this lawsuit not only compensates our clients for all they have endured in this tragedy, but helps initiate legislation requiring carbon monoxide detectors and alarms in all commercial buildings, especially indoor pool facilities where this is a common accident scenario,” he said. “This senseless tragedy could have easily been prevented.”