San Francisco Jury Holds Landlord Liable for Fatal 2014 Taylor Street Fire Caused by Unpermitted Outlet
After trial: The judge denied the defense motions for a new trial and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The defense filed a notice of settlement on August 29, 2018 and abandoned its appeal on September 6, 2018.
Won by Walkup Personal Injury Lawyers.
A San Francisco jury found the owner of a 40-unit building at 627 Taylor Street negligent after an ungrounded outlet, installed without a permit, overheated and started a June 2014 fire in a tenant's studio apartment. The tenant, a 55-year-old woman, died nine days later from smoke inhalation complications. In May 2018 the jury awarded her daughter $3 million in non-economic damages, split evenly between past and future loss. The defense later abandoned its appeal.
What happened
On June 29, 2014, a fire broke out in a studio apartment at 627 Taylor Street, a 40-unit building in San Francisco. The tenant, a 55-year-old woman, was found unconscious from smoke inhalation on her kitchen floor beneath a window that opened onto the fire escape. She remained in the hospital for nine days before dying of complications from the smoke she had breathed.
Her daughter, Aurora Belo, sued the building's owners and managers, a group of Bally Hallinan family entities and individuals, on behalf of herself and her mother's estate. The case was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court in 2016 and tried before Judge Garrett L. Wong.
The plaintiff's case centered on an electrical outlet in the apartment's hallway closet. Her electrical expert testified that the outlet was added to the unit's wiring somewhere between 10 and 20 years before the fire, that work of that kind required a permit, and that no permit was ever pulled. He told jurors the outlet was ungrounded and had loose, resistive wiring that overheated and ignited the blaze. A property management expert testified about the owner's duties to inspect and maintain the building. The defense countered with its own electrical, fire protection, property management and cause-and-origin experts, and argued that the tenant's own conduct contributed to the outcome.
The trial ran 12 days, and the jury deliberated for one day. Jurors voted 12 to 0 that the owner was negligent and 10 to 2 that the negligence was a substantial factor in causing the death. They rejected the comparative fault argument, voting 9 to 3 that the tenant's own conduct was not a substantial factor. On May 7, 2018, they awarded Ms. Belo $3 million: $1.5 million for past non-economic loss and $1.5 million for future non-economic loss, the loss of her mother's companionship.
Conor M. Kelly of Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger tried the case with Andje M. Medina of Altair Law. David S. Webster and Sarah E. Fama of Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman represented the defendants. The defense moved for a new trial and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and both motions were denied. Because the judgment exceeded the plaintiff's statutory settlement offer, she was entitled to prejudgment interest on the full verdict and to post-offer expert fees.
The defense then filed a notice of appeal, but on August 29, 2018 it filed a notice of settlement, and it abandoned the appeal on September 6, 2018.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.VerdictSearch, 'Building owner's negligence caused fatal apartment fire: daughter', May 7, 2018·Archived copy
- 2.Trellis, 'Aurora Belo et al vs. Bally Hallinan Properties et al', San Francisco Superior Court CGC16552777 docket
- 3.Indybay, 'KPFA Protector's Supporter & Multi-Millionaire Property Owner', June 14, 2022·Archived copy
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