Preserving the product
We worked to preserve the product itself as physical evidence, since the product's condition after the fire was central to proving how and why it failed.
Product Liability Wrongful Death Case: Holding a Manufacturer Accountable
Some deaths happen because someone made a bad decision behind the wheel. Others happen because a product sitting quietly in someone's home was never designed to be safe in the first place. Our product liability wrongful death case falls into the second category. A family lost a loved one because a consumer product, manufactured and sold with a design defect, caused a fire and a death that should never have happened. If a defective product caused or contributed to a death in your family, call The Homampour Law Firm at 323-658-8077 for a free, confidential consultation.
$104M
Brain injury recovery
$65.75M
Trucking recovery
$38M
Wrongful death recovery
What Happened
Our client's family lost a loved one in a fire connected to a defective consumer product being used in an ordinary, foreseeable way inside the home. The product was not being misused. It was not modified. It was being used exactly as the manufacturer intended and marketed it to be used. That is precisely why this matters: a product that causes death or serious injury during normal, foreseeable use is a product that failed the people who trusted it. The family had no reason to suspect the product posed any danger. Consumer products are supposed to be safe when used as directed. When that basic promise fails, the law provides a path to accountability, and that path is strict product liability.
The Three Ways a Product Can Fail
Every product liability wrongful death case turns on identifying exactly where the manufacturer's process broke down. In general, a product can be defective in three distinct ways under California law: a manufacturing defect, where the specific unit deviated from its intended design; a design defect, where the product's design itself created an unreasonable risk of harm even when built exactly as intended; and a failure to warn, where the manufacturer did not adequately alert consumers to a danger associated with the product's use. Our investigation focused heavily on whether a safer alternative design existed at the time the product was manufactured, and whether the manufacturer knew or should have known about the risk the product posed.
How The Homampour Law Firm Built the Case
Product liability litigation against a manufacturer requires resources most families cannot marshal on their own. From the outset, our team worked to preserve the evidence and retain the right experts.
Fire origin and cause
We retained fire origin and cause investigators to determine precisely where the fire started and what ignited it.
Alternative design analysis
We retained mechanical and electrical engineers to analyze the product's design and determine whether a safer, feasible alternative design existed that would have prevented the fire without compromising the product's function. California law asks a jury to weigh the risks of the chosen design against its benefits, considering whether a safer design was feasible.
The manufacturer's internal records
We pursued the manufacturer's internal records through discovery, seeking prior complaints, internal safety testing, and engineering communications discussing the defect. This typically requires focused discovery requests, deposition testimony from corporate representatives, and persistence to obtain records a company would prefer never became public.
Because this matter resolved and involves surviving family members and minor children, we describe the outcome in general terms rather than disclosing confidential settlement figures or identifying details.
Why This Product Liability Wrongful Death Case Matters
Consumer product safety litigation serves a purpose beyond compensating any single family. When a manufacturer is held accountable for a defective design, it creates pressure across an entire industry to reconsider similar designs still in circulation. Litigation of this kind has, over decades, driven meaningful safety improvements in categories ranging from vehicles to household appliances to children's products.
Lessons for Families Facing a Similar Loss
Three lessons apply broadly to families facing a similar loss, along with the practical steps that protect a claim from the start.
Theory pleaded
Jury finding
Normal use matters enormously
If a loved one was using a product exactly as intended when it caused death or serious injury, that is powerful evidence the product itself, not the person using it, was the problem.
Manufacturers keep records they would rather not share
Internal testing, prior complaint data, and engineering communications often exist and can be obtained through properly directed discovery.
A safer alternative design is often the heart of the case
If a manufacturer could have built the product more safely without eliminating its function, that fact drives both liability and the manufacturer's own assessment of risk before the product ever reached the family's home.
Preserve the evidence and call early
Do not discard, repair, or alter the product, document the scene and packaging, avoid speaking with the manufacturer's representatives before consulting an attorney, and contact counsel promptly before evidence is lost.
How These Cases Are Built, Topic by Topic
The breakdowns below cover the space heater fire pattern, strict liability doctrine, the parallel negligent design claim, damages for surviving children, and expert strategy.
Space heater fire cases
Space Heater Defect California: Litigating Home Fire Product Cases
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Strict liability doctrine
Strict Product Liability California Manufacturer Doctrine Explained
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Referring a product liability or wrongful death case?
We try product liability and wrongful death cases against manufacturers as counsel or co-counsel and pay statutory referral fees. Call 323-658-8077 to discuss a referral.
Refer a caseFrequently Asked Questions
What is a product liability wrongful death case?
A product liability wrongful death case is a legal claim brought by surviving family members after a defective product causes a death. These cases can be based on a manufacturing defect, a design defect, or a failure to adequately warn consumers about a known risk.
What are the three types of product defects under California law?
California law recognizes manufacturing defects, where a specific unit deviates from its intended design; design defects, where the product's overall design creates an unreasonable risk of harm; and failure to warn defects, where a manufacturer does not adequately alert consumers to a known danger.
What is the alternative design test in a product liability case?
California's risk-benefit test asks whether the risks of a product's design outweigh its benefits, considering factors including the feasibility of a safer alternative design that would have prevented the harm without eliminating the product's usefulness.