KEY WEST, Fla. -- Attorneys representing 24 people who claim to be victims of carbon monoxide poisoning at the Doubletree Grand Key Resort announced their plans Wednesday to seek state legislation requiring mandatory monitoring equipment in hotels and guest accommodations where boilers and other gas-heated equipment are utilized.

Ira Leesfield and his team of lawyers held a news conference outside the hotel where a 26-year-old guest died from carbon monoxide poisoning and his 53-year-old father became seriously ill.

A team of engineers, contractors and independent inspectors were on hand to examine the hotel, which has been closed since last month's incident.

"They're going to go up there and see that the flu of the chimney where the carbon monoxide was supposed to be vented out of was changed by an employee of this establishment and what they call a goose-neck cap was put on that did not allow the carbon monoxide to ventilate," Leesfield said.

Thomas Lueders and his father, Richard Lueders, of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., were found unresponsive in room 416 on Dec. 27. The elder Lueders was flown to a Fort Myers hospital where he was treated and released, but his son died from the poisonous gas.

Leesfield is representing the Iowa family who stayed in the same room a week before Lueders' death. David and Jody Smith and their 22-year-old son, Nathan, filed a lawsuit in Key West against the hotel and its management, claiming negligence. They claim they also fell ill from carbon monoxide poisoning, as did others dating back to February 2006.

"We know there was actually knowledge (by) the hotel of our clients' illness," Leesfield said. "The clients (who) we filed suit on (their) behalf were taken to the hospital. They were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. They came back to the hotel. They loudly and clearly complained to management of the hotel."

Only seven states have legislation requiring mandatory monitoring equipment for carbon monoxide at hotels and guest accommodations where boilers and other gas-heated equipment are used. A portion of the attorney fees and victims' compensation, should any be awarded, would be earmarked to help pass the legislation, Leesfield said.