The death of a 73-year-old man during the 2021 explosion of a stove at the home he leased was not attributable to the negligence of his landlord, a judge has ruled.
The Van Nuys Superior Court lawsuit stems from the death of Michael Stephen Sexton, who was trying to ignite a range in a garage of the home when a gas leak allegedly caused and/or contributed to by defective component parts was followed by a fire and explosion that killed the man on Feb. 5, 2021.
The plaintiffs are Ryan Stephen Beltz and Rachael Marie Beltz, the son and daughter of the decedent. The defendants include Electrolux Products Inc. and the homeowner, Ron Conover. On Monday, Judge Elaine W. Mandel granted a motion by Conover’s attorneys to dismiss the part of the case against him on grounds there are no triable issues. The judge had heard arguments on March 25 and taken the case under submission.
Specifically, Mandel said the family members had the chance to provide her with facts and legal authority of a breach of a legal duty in order to survive the dismissal motion, but failed to do so. Just because Conover bought the property on a foreclosure sale does not necessarily mean the property had significant defects that required an inspection, according to the judge.
In their new court papers, the family members stated that when Conover purchased the residence, he discovered the undisclosed converted garage which contained a kitchen area, a bathroom and a combination living area and bedroom.
Based on the fact that the converted garage was not disclosed in the sale of the property and not shown to him when he toured the property, Conover knew or should have known that the conversion was illegal, the family’s attorneys’ court papers further stated.
“Regardless of this knowledge, Conover installed a gas stove in the kitchen area of the converted garage and began illegally renting out the space without registering the unit with the Los Angeles Housing Department and without performing a reasonable inspection,” the relatives’ lawyers contended in their court papers.
Sexton was preparing food in the kitchen area when the explosion occurred and he told paramedics before he died that he attempted to light the stove when it exploded, according to the family’s lawyers’ pleadings.
Conover had a duty of reasonable care, even more so as a “rogue landlord,” the family’s attorneys further stated in their court papers.
But according to Conover’s attorneys’ court papers, Sexton never made a complaint or request for repairs that went ignored and the Beltzes cannot show the stove leaked for any measurable period. Conover is sympathetic to the plaintiffs, but he should not be blamed for what happened and he did not have “constructive notice” of a dangerous condition just because Sexton was killed while living on the defendant’s premises, the Conover attorneys further maintain in their court papers.
Conover installed the stove in 2014, made sure it was working and made no modifications or repairs between the installation and the explosion, according to his lawyers’ pleadings.
Trial of the remainder of the case is scheduled Sept. 21.