The owner of a leased Van Nuys home is seeking dismissal of all allegations against him in a lawsuit filed by relatives of a tenant killed when a stove exploded, contending that family members have not shown that the explosion was foreseeable.
The Van Nuys Superior Court lawsuit stems from the death of Michael Stephen Sexton, who was trying to ignite a range when a gas leak allegedly caused and/or contributed to by defective component parts was followed by a fire and explosion that killed the 73-year-old man on Feb. 5, 2021.
The plaintiffs are Ryan Stephen Beltz and Rachael Marie Beltz, the son and daughter of the decedent. On Thursday, attorneys for the landlord, Ronald Conover, filed court papers with Judge Elaine Mandel contending that there are no triable issues in the case.
The plaintiffs maintain Conover did not install fire, smoke, gas and carbon monoxide detectors and shutoff mechanisms that could have prevented Sexton’s death. The complaint includes a color photo of the heavily damaged home on Murrieta Avenue.
But according to Conover’s attorneys’ court papers, the plaintiffs’ claims are unsubstantiated, the “tragic” explosion was unforeseeable and Conover’s conduct was not a “substantial factor” in causing Sexton’s death.
“Plaintiffs have adduced no evidence that alarms were missing when decedent took possession of the studio,” the Conover lawyers state in their pleadings while adding that the plaintiffs cannot show that the smoke detectors were inoperable on the day of the blast.
Sexton never made a complaint or request for repairs that went ignored and the Beltzes cannot show the stove leaked for any measurable period, according to the Conover attorneys’ court papers.
Although Conover is sympathetic to the plaintiffs, it does not necessarily follow that he is to blame or had “constructive notice” of a dangerous condition just because Sexton was killed while living on the defendant’s premises, the Conover attorneys further state.
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.