A case in California involved fatal injuries from a fire that started in the decedent’s apartment while he was sleeping. The smoke alarm inside his unit did not sound. His successors-in-interest filed a lawsuit against the decedent’s landlords, individually and as trustees of the Revocable Trust and the manufacturer of the smoke alarm for damages relating to his death.
The trustees filed a cross-complaint against the smoke alarm’s manufacturer claiming that the alarm was defective. The manufacturer moved for summary judgment arguing the trustees could not establish causation as to any of their cross-claims because the undisputed facts established that someone intentionally disabled the alarm after it left the manufacturer’s control.