The Janssen Law Firm recently successfully resolved a wrongful death matter for the $300,000.00 homeowner’s insurance policy limits of a defendant property owner whose burn barrel fire got out of control in a Eureka, California residential neighborhood. The defendant property owner allowed an un-permitted “burn barrel” fire to get out of control on an extremely gusty, fall day (winds in excess of 30 miles an hour) which caught the back deck, picnic table and a fence on the property line on fire. John “Happy Jack” Van Lieu rushed into the smoke with tubs of water to knock down the fire, and was exposed to toxic smoke.
Within two days “Happy Jack” was coughing up blood, and was hospitalized, eventually dependant on a ventilator, and expired at St. Joseph’s Hospital. The cause of death according to the pathologist was “massive alveolar lung damage consistent with toxic smoke inhalation exposure.”
