Woman whose boyfriend started fire trying to cook squirrel could be liable for up to $2M 
 
 HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A woman whose boyfriend started an apartment fire while trying to torch a squirrel may have to pay up to $2 million in damages. 
 
 On Tuesday, an appeals court reversed an earlier ruling that limited Barbara Pellow's damages to $15,000. 
 
 In October 2012, Pellow's boyfriend tried to cook a squirrel while on an apartment deck at Clearview Apartments, in Holland Township. 
 
 The flames spread, and damaged 32 units. 
 
 An insurance company claims it paid more than $2 million in repairs. 
 
 Pellow was the registered tennant, not her boyfriend. ||||| Firefighters battle a blaze at the ClearView Apartments in Holland, Mich., Oct. 10, 2012.(Photo: WZZM-TV) 
 
 HOLLAND, Mich. — A woman whose boyfriend sparked a 2012 apartment fire using a blowtorch on a squirrel is on the hook for $2 million in damages to the Holland Township complex, the Court of Appeals ruled. 
 
 Wednesday’s ruling reverses a lower court decision that held Barbara Pellow responsible for only $15,400 in damages caused by the Oct. 10 blaze that consumed 32 units at ClearView Apartments. 
 
 The woman’s boyfriend, Khek Chanthalavong, had been using a blowtorch to remove fur from the squirrel on a wooden deck. Owners of the complex claimed cooking a squirrel on the deck violated her rental agreement. 
 
 Even though her boyfriend caused the fire, Pellow is still liable under a lease agreement for what justices described as a "fur-burning escapade." 
 
 “Because defendant signed the lease agreement, she is presumed to have read and understood its contents," the three-judge panel wrote. 
 
 Dozens of people at ClearView Apartments in Holland Township lost everything in the fire. Insurance carrier Travelers Indemnity Co. paid out more than $2 million to repair the damage. 
 
 The boyfriend left the torch on the deck and went into the apartment. When he returned 15 minutes later, he discovered the fire. 
 
 “His attempts to extinguish the fire proved unsuccessful," justices noted in the unpublished decision released Wednesday. 
 
 The lease agreement held Pellow responsible for fire damage caused by negligent or intentional activity. Pellow argued that she was not liable for damages under the Michigan Truth in Renting Act and the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. 
 
 The Court of Appeals says it is a breach-of-contract lawsuit. Her contention that provisions of the lease agreement “were never explained to her’’ don’t hold water. The law does not require that the landlord “read and explain" the lease agreement she signed, justices wrote. 
 
 Its five-page decision directs the Ottawa County Circuit Court judge who handled the case to rule in the insurance company’s favor and “determine the appropriate amount of damages’’ owed, which the insurance company said tops $2 million. 
 
 Copyright 2016 WCNC
– Would you pay $2 million for an elegant dish of blowtorch-seared squirrel? Barbara Pellow might not have a choice. According to a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling last week, Pellow's boyfriend, Khek Chanthalavong, was using a blowtorch to burn fur off a squirrel he planned to eat when he left the blowtorch unattended on Pellow's wooden deck for 15 minutes in October 2012, reports WZZM. He returned to find a fire that ripped through Pellow's apartment building in Holland Township, damaging 32 units and destroying dozens of residents' personal effects. A court initially ordered Pellow to pay $15,400 in damages. However, justices ruled last Wednesday that she may have to pay up to $2 million to cover costs paid by an insurance company, per WWMT. While the, um, barbeque was banned under Pellow's rental agreement, she argued the contract was "never explained to her." The justices countered that landlords aren't required to "read and explain" rental agreements to tenants and found Pellow liable for the "fur-burning escapade," even though Chanthalavong was the one doing the cooking. (A squirrel caused $300,000 in damage in Indiana.)