Six former residents of the apartment complex gashed by a falling crane last month are suing the apartment company and the crane company, accusing them of negligence.

Houston-based attorney Ryan MacLeod is representing Mason Flores, 33; Antonio Griffin, 25; Tyra Lee, 22; Tonian Marshall, 50; Tierney Rattler, 28, and Rattler’s teenage son. They filed the lawsuit in Dallas County last week.

They are among more than 500 residents displaced from their homes after the fatal June 9 collapse, when a crane toppled into the Elan City Lights apartment building during a sudden storm. Their lawsuit cites “serious personal injuries” they have sustained.

MacLeod said Tuesday that the plaintiffs, whose apartments all were damaged in the collapse, are each suffering from “invisible injuries” since the accident. They’re all struggling with depression, anxiety and PTSD as they try to figure out their new normal, he said.

A construction crane remains broken above the Elan City Lights apartment complex in Dallas on Friday. The crane fell during a storm on June 9. Resident Kiersten Smith, 29, was killed when the crane collapsed. She was to be married in September. Five other people were hurt in the collapse, including two who were critically injured. (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

“Each day is the depression of looking back at what you lost, and the anxiety is looking at tomorrow and the next day, looking forward at, ‘What are we going to do about it?’” MacLeod said.

He said his clients are seeing psychiatrists for these issues.

“They’re all trying to figure out where they go from here,” MacLeod said.

Besides Rattler and her son, the plaintiffs are not related and did not know one another before the collapse.

Construction is underway at The Gabriella apartment complex in Dallas on Friday. A construction crane fell into the neighboring Elan City Lights apartments during a major storm June 9. Both apartment complexes are owned by the same company. (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Their lawsuit names several companies as defendants: Greystar, the company that owns Elan City Lights and The Gabriella, the unfinished apartment complex across the street where the fallen crane had stood; Bigge Crane and Rigging, the company that leased Greystar the crane and supplied its operator; Meeks + Partners, an architecture firm; and the Housley Group, a construction company.

Greystar declined to comment on the pending litigation.

Bigge also declined to comment. The crane company has blamed high winds for the collapse and said its operator followed proper protocol.

Someone who answered the phone at Meeks + Partners said the company had no comment on the lawsuit and referred questions to an attorney. She hung up when asked who the company’s attorney is.

Calls and emails to the Housley Group were not returned Tuesday.

The plaintiffs are seeking more than $1 million each in monetary relief, according to the lawsuit. But their attorney said compensation is a low priority for them.

"All of these people, if you ask them what do they want and what are they seeking from filing a lawsuit, it really is very simple: It's making sure that this doesn't happen again,” MacLeod said. “It's telling these big companies you cannot sacrifice safety because you didn't want to take the time, the energy or the care to make sure a job was done safely.”

MacLeod said the attorneys at the Arnold & Itkin law firm representing the former residents want to take an “in-depth look at figuring out exactly who had maintained this crane” and how it was supposed to function.

“What we’re hoping to do is by filing a lawsuit we’re able to arm our clients with the ability and the power to get answers and dig deeper,” he said.

Debris lies in the swimming pool after a tower crane fell from a construction site into Elan City Lights apartments in Dallas. Kiersten Smith, 29, who lived at the complex, was killed when the crane collapsed. Five other people were hurt in the collapse, including two who were critically injured. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

He compared the crane collapse to a tornado or even a strong thunderstorm — but in those cases, residents would at least have had some warning and time to prepare, he said.

“When you think about a situation like this, these people didn't stand a chance. There was no alarm, there was no warning,” he said.

The six former residents are not the first to sue the apartments and crane company. Macy Chiasson, a UFC fighter who lived at Elan City Lights, filed a lawsuit June 11 after she was injured in the collapse days earlier. And other displaced residents have retained lawyers or are mulling legal action.

Some residents have said they're still living "in limbo" without clarity on when they will be reunited with their cars and belongings, which are trapped inside the building they are not allowed to access.

The apartment company announced a plan Friday to begin inventorying and packing up residents' belongings in 184 units that were not impacted by the crane.

The company did not provide any timeline for when residents who lived in the apartment's other 240 units could expect to get their items back or when their cars would be removed from the parking garage.