A survivor of Iowa's deadly apartment building collapse sues, saying the owner and city didn't evacuate residents despite 'imminent danger'

A resident of the Iowa apartment building that partially collapsed - killing three residents and destroying dozens of homes - is suing the building's owner and the city of Davenport for negligence, saying they knew about the dangers but failed to warn residents.

The suit, filed by tenant Dayna Feuerbach, said the owners of the building, Andrew Wold and his companies, "recognized the imminent danger residents faced, yet allowed the building to deteriorate while failing to warn residents that their lives were in danger."

In one instance, Feuerbach claimed in the lawsuit, the owners tried painting over cracked exterior walls of the six-story building to hide the imminent threat.

For the first time since the May 28 collapse, a representative for Wold responded to CNN's requests for comment.

"We are devastated by the building's collapse and our hearts go out to everyone involved, people displaced, people injured, and of course the people that lost their lives," Wold's spokesperson, Harlan Loeb, told CNN on Tuesday.

In response to the lawsuit, Loeb said he and Wold were aware of the litigation but said it's "certainly secondary to the (building's) collapse."

When reached for comment, the city of Davenport said, "On the advice of counsel, we cannot comment on pending litigation."