The mother of a 25-year-old Washington, D.C., man who was fatally stabbed in August inside the CFE Event Center in Forestville has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Prince George's County officials and the club's owners.

In the lawsuit, filed today in Prince George's County Circuit Court, District resident Tracy Cooper accuses county officials of failing to provide oversight of the club's operations and security plan, and claims the club's owners were in violation of their permit and failed to take steps needed to keep patrons safe.

Cooper's son, George Harrison Cooper III, 25, was fatally stabbed inside CFE around 3:30 a.m. Aug. 22, according to police. No one has been arrested in his death to date.

In the suit, Tracy Cooper, 43, accuses CFE's owners and operators — listed as Kevin Darby and Bernida Williams — of running CFE as a dance hall, even though its use and occupancy permit prohibit those activities, and of failing to provide adequate security given previous incidents of violence inside and outside the venue.

The suit also lists "Prince George's County" as a defendant, but does not specify an agency or department. The county's Office of Law, which handles suits against the county, could not immediately be reached for comment this afternoon.

Cooper filed the suit on behalf of her son's estate and is being represented in the suit by Baltimore-based attorney Derrick G. Hamlin. The suit requests damages totaling $10 million; any monetary award would go into a trust set up for Cooper's children, according to Tracy Cooper.

Phone numbers listed for CFE were either disconnected or did not have voicemail set up today. Contact information could not be located for Darby or Williams.

CFE, which opened in 2003 and hosts regular musical performances and private events, was one of nine clubs temporarily closed in March 2007 by former county executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and the Prince George's County Police Department, citing a jump in club-associated homicides and other violent crime.

The clubs all reopened soon after with pledges from owners to improve security, but the venue has averaged one homicide annually since 2007, according to county police records, and police and patrons familiar with the club have said fights are common.

CFE, which holds a permit to operate as an auditorium, was temporarily closed on two other separate occasions in 2008 and 2009 for fire code and health violations, according to county police records. Although CFE does not hold a liquor license, it has hosted "bring your own bottle" events in the past, according to several sources familiar with the club.

After Cooper's death, CFE voluntarily closed for four days as police investigated the stabbing, but the venue has since reopened.

Tracy Cooper is also accusing county officials of failing to take action against CFE for the permit violation and not monitoring the club's compliance with a security plan put in place after the 2007 closure.

"The county should have followed up," she said. "They haven't been monitoring this facility despite all of the violence that's taken place in and around the club."

ztillman@gazette.net