ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Judge Catherine Perry has granted summary judgment to Bosch Thermotechnology in a case brought by a couple whose lake house was destroyed by fire due to an allegedly defective water heater.
In a May 4 ruling, Perry granted Bosch's motions to exclude "opinion" evidence of plaintiffs Thomas and Janice Howard's expert witnesses as well as for summary judgment.
Without the opinion evidence, Perry wrote, "the Howards have no evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that a defect in the water heater proximately caused the fire."
According to background in the ruling, the Howards' home at the Lake of the Ozarks was destroyed by fire on Nov. 14, 2013, when they were not present. They were last at the home three days before the fire, at which time Janice washed dishes in the kitchen sink using hot water. Thomas has already turned off the water intake to the house.
The Howards' witnesses included fire marshal James Doyle, who had determined that the fire started in the utility room on the home's lower level, and he suspected and later wrote in a report that the water heater caused the fire, the opinion states.
His report stated that by Thomas turning off the water intake and Janice continuing to use hot water caused the hot water heater to be in the "on" position with no water to heat or keep the pipe cool, the ruling states.
The Howards also hired an associate professor of mechanical engineering, Kelly Homan, to analyze the Bosch water heater and assess its potential as a fire hazard.
Homan concluded that if the water heater were to go into an "overheat event," then it could produce "heat flux" on a mounting surface that could start a fire. Homan also concluded "that it was more likely than not" that the water heater caused the fire.
The Howards' product liability suit claimed strict liability for defective design, strict liability for failure to warn, and negligent design and failure to warn.
"Whether proceeding on a theory of negligence or strict liability, a plaintiff must prove that the defect in the product or the negligence of the defendant in the design proximately caused the plaintiff’s injuries," Perry wrote.
"Without evidence of defect, a plaintiff cannot establish that a defect proximately caused his injuries. In such circumstances, summary judgment for the defendant manufacturer is appropriate," the opinion states.