History
  • No items yet
midpage
Kenneth Shinedling v. Sunbeam Products
692 F. App'x 902
| 9th Cir. | 2017
|
Check Treatment
|
Docket
Case Information

*1 Before: KOZINSKI and OWENS, Circuit Judges, and WILKEN, [**] Senior District Judge.

1. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, substantial evidence supports the jury’s finding that Sunbeam Products, Inc.’s warnings were *2 inadequate to alert plaintiffs of the fire risks associated with the space heater, particularly the danger of using the heater while sleeping. See Jackson v. Deft, Inc. , 273 Cal. Rptr. 214, 223 (Ct. App. 1990) (“In most cases . . . the adequacy of a warning is a question of fact for the jury.”); see also Harper v. City of Los Angeles , 533 F.3d 1010, 1021 (9th Cir. 2008).

2. Regarding bystander damages, there is substantial evidence that the girls were “present at the scene of the injury-producing event at the time it occur[red] and [were] then aware that it [was] causing injury to the victim.” Thing v. La Chusa , 771 P.2d 814, 815 (Cal. 1989). The jury was able to find that the girls could have had “very little doubt” that their mother was “in the house that [they] saw engulfed in flames.” In re Air Crash Disaster Near Cerritos, California, On Aug. 31, 1986 (Estrada) , 967 F.2d 1421, 1425 (9th Cir. 1992). As in Estrada , “[t]he injury-producing event was the fire,” and the girls were not required to be aware of its cause. Id .; see also Fortman v. Förvaltningsbolaget Insulan AB , 151 Cal. Rptr. 3d 320, 329 n.4 (Ct. App. 2013).

3. Finally, substantial evidence supports the amount of emotional distress damages awarded to the girls, and the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Sunbeam’s motion for a new trial based on excessive damages. See Gasperini v. Ctr. for Humanities, Inc. , 518 U.S. 415, 435-36 (1996); Toscano v. Greene Music , 21 Cal. Rptr. 3d 732, 736 (Ct. App. 2004) (Under California law, *3 “[t]he amount of damages . . . is a fact question committed to the discretion of the trial judge on a motion for new trial; an award of damages will not be disturbed if it is supported by substantial evidence.”).

AFFIRMED .

[*] This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

[**] The Honorable Claudia Wilken, United States Senior District Judge for the Northern District of California, sitting by designation.

Case Details

Case Name: Kenneth Shinedling v. Sunbeam Products
Court Name: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Published: Jun 30, 2017
Citation: 692 F. App'x 902
Docket Number: 15-56891
Court Abbreviation: 9th Cir.
AI-generated responses must be verified and are not legal advice.
Your Notebook is empty. To add cases, bookmark them from your search, or select Add Cases to extract citations from a PDF or a block of text.