Actual Award: $46,920,000

Plaintiffs: Ava Aren Shinedling (Age 3), Kenneth Aaron Shinedling (Age 42), Alexia Celeste Shinedling (Age 9), Addison Leilani Shinedling (Age 12), Estate of Amy Celeste Shinedling (Age 36)

Defendants: Sunbeam Products, Inc., County of San Bernardino, Phelan Pinon Hills Community Services District

On Jan. 5, 2011, plaintiff Kenneth Shinedling and his wife, Amy, were sleeping in the master bedroom of their home, when a fire started in their room. Amy ultimately died in the fire. A coroner concluded that she died within “minutes” due to “thermocutaneous burns with inhalation of products of combustion.”

The family claimed the fire was started by a heater. The couple's three minor daughters, Addison, Alexia and Ava, sued Sunbeam Products Inc., the county of San Bernardino, and Phelan Pinon Hills Community Services District. After a successful demurer by the government defendants, the matter only continued against Sunbeam.

Plaintiffs' counsel contended that the fire originated in the master bedroom in the area around the heater. Sunbeam had manufactured the quartz-style space heater — model HQH307. The heater had a warning label on its body and a tag on the cord that stated, “Warning, risk of fire. Keep combustible materials such as furniture, papers, clothes and curtains at least three feet from the front of the heater and away from the sides and rear.”

Mr. Shinedling was aware of the requirement to keep combustibles at least three feet away from the heater, but counsel contended that the heater failed the consumer expectation test for design defect and failed the risk-benefit test for design defect. Counsel also said that Sunbeam failed to warn of the heater dangers, since the company knew materials could inadvertently get in front of or on the heater, and the heater's automatic safety switch would not work, and this would start a fire. The warnings on the product also did not tell users not to leave the heater on while sleeping or that the automatic safety switch would not always work.

Defense counsel argued that the automatic safety switch was not designed to prevent fires. However, plaintiffs' counsel noted that Sunbeam's project manager testified that the automatic safety switch was on the heater to prevent fires. Plaintiffs' counsel also noted that Sunbeam's safety engineer testified that he knew that the automatic safety switch would not always work, but that he did not tell Sunbeam's design people or the project manager, nor did he tell the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission about the problem. However, the engineer acknowledged that after the fire in question, he was obligated to alert the Consumer Product Safety Commission of any potential defects in the heater, but that he kept the limitation of the safety switch to himself because he did not think it was important.

Sunbeam's counsel denied the heater was defective and denied any alleged defect caused the decedent's death. Sunbeam's counsel contended that the heater met all Underwriters Laboratory (a safety consulting and certification company) standards, that the Consumer Product Safety Commission did not tell Sunbeam to recall the product.

Sunbeam's counsel further argued that the heater's warnings were violated because combustibles were not kept three feet away from the heater and Shinedling's negligence caused the fire. Sunbeam's counsel also contended Shinedling could have saved Ava by placing her outside of the master bedroom's French doors and then gone back into the house to save his wife instead of their other two girls.

Plaintiffs' counsel said Amy insisted that Shinedling save their girls first. Under cross-examination, one of Sunbeam's expert witnesses, the fire captain who was on the scene, admitted he had experienced situations where young children were placed outside of a home fire, only to rush back in to try to save their parents. This confirmed that if Shinedling had done what defense counsel alleged, there likely would have been more fire victims.

The family sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of Amy Shinedling's love, comfort, care, society, companionship, affection, solace, and support. They also sought recovery of direct injury and bystander emotional distress damages. Sunbeam's counsel disputed the nature and extent of the decedent's family's damages.

The jury found that Sunbeam's heater failed to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would have expected it to and that the heater was defective in its warnings. It also found that Sunbeam negligently designed the heater and that Sunbeam was negligent in its warnings. The jury further found that the heater's design under the risk-benefit test was not defective and that the heater's design was not a factor in causing harm. The jury determined that the decedent's family's damages totaled $58.65 million, including $9,995,000 for Mr. Shinedling's damages, $15,595,000 for Addison's damages, $16,105,000 for Alexia's damages, and $16,955,000 for Ava's damages. However, the jury apportioned 20 percent of the fault to Mr. Shinedling and 80 percent of the fault to Sunbeam. After apportionment, the decedent's family would recover $46.92 million.

Visit www.verdictsearch.com for more details on similar cases.