Los Angeles Injury Lawyer Blog

Carbon monoxide poisoning is a serious risk and hundreds of people a year die from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. It is an odorless, colorless gas that you cannot see, smell or taste, but it can cause brain damage and death. Our clients were victims of carbon monoxide poisoning, and it tragically killed the husband and seriously injured the wife. Sadly theirs is not an uncommon story. Carbon monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the US. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that carbon monoxide poisoning kills almost 500 people a year and causes over 15,000 visits to the emergency room every year. If you or a loved one has been injured or died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, you need a personal injury lawyer to inform you of your rights. If you live in California, please call us for a free consultation at the Law Offices of Greenberg & Rudman LLP (1-800-252-9776).

Our clients had recently purchased a cabin in Big Bear in San Bernardino County, California. It had a big, stone fireplace and a wall heater. They had an inspection company check out the cabin before they purchased it. One night it was very cold so they turned on the wall heater and lit the fireplace with a roaring fire and went to bed with their two dogs at the end of the bed. Because it was an old cabin, when they purchased it, they had all the windows and doors resealed to make them air tight. Although the wall heater was inspected, the inspector didn't take off the cover and inspect the insides of the heater. Over the years, soot had built up on the draft out flow of the heater so that the carbon monoxide from the burning of the fire place did not draw out the flu as much as it was designed to do. With the fireplace going full blast, this also created carbon monoxide and used up a lot of the oxygen in the cabin. Both dogs and the husband died of carbon monoxide poisoning that night, and the wife was critically injured but recovered.

The previous owners either didn't use the fireplace at night, or the windows and door being old and unsealed probably created enough of a draft to allow fresh air to be drawn in from outside to replenish the oxygen than was being consumed from the fireplace and the heater. We sued the inspector, the prior home owner, the heater manufacturer, the gas company and settled the case after hiring experts to reconstruct how the accident happened. Please call us now if you or a loved one is the victim of carbon monoxide poisoning (1-800-ALAWPRO).