Woman’s family alleges employees were negligent

The family of a 61-year-old woman whose body was found in March inside a Macy’s department store restroom at the Westfield Vancouver mall has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Family members of Lydumila I. Tikhomirova of Vancouver allege that Macy’s employees were negligent when they failed to check the women’s restroom before closing time March 9 at the department store at 8208 N.E. Vancouver Mall Drive. A Macy’s employee discovered the woman’s body inside the restroom the next day and called 911 shortly after 6 a.m.

An autopsy showed that Tikhomirova died of congestive heart failure, according to the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“Defendants and defendants’ employees failed to check Macy’s bathroom before the store closed, thereby failing to discover Ms. Tikhomirova in a state of distress, and thereby preventing her from getting the treatment she required to prevent her death,” according to the complaint, which was filed Thursday in Clark County Superior Court by Canadian law firm Cross Border Law Corp.

Kelley Tarzian, Macy’s spokesperson for Washington, said the corporation doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The plaintiffs are Valeriya Tikhomirova, who represents Lydumila Tikhomirova’s estate, and Lydumila Tikhomirova’s children, Natalya Tikhomirova, Svetlana Kalacheva, Timofey Tikhomirova, Irina Yukhimets, Andrey Tikhomirova and Aleksandr Tikhomirova.

They seek damages in an unspecified amount, including…