Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Causes Two Deaths in Boynton Beach, Florida
Deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning are more common than most people realize. Carbon monoxide is silent and can be deadly if not detected early enough.
This was a case involving a couple, happily married for 42 years and enjoying their retirement years – she was 65 years old and he was 69 at the time of this incident. They had two grown daughters and were living the life they had worked toward for many years.
One October evening, the husband was enjoying a quiet evening at home and the wife had gone out with some girlfriends for the evening. Upon returning home that evening, she evidently pulled her car in the garage, closed the garage door, and then went inside the house, leaving the car running in the garage.
Unfortunately, carbon monoxide fumes entered the living quarters from the garage by way of the air conditioning unit and the air handler located therein.
Sadly, this couple died that night as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The couple’s two daughters brought their case to Richard D. Schuler for assistance. Mr. Schuler sought damages in this case from the manufacturing company of the air conditioning unit and the air handler, from the company that installed the air conditioning equipment, from the developer/builder and the architect of the house the couple had recently purchased.
Both the manufacturer and installer of the air conditioning equipment settled fairly early in the case, both for substantial amounts. However, the developer/builder and the architect both fought settlement in this matter and, in fact, did not even appear for the trial scheduled before the judge in this case.
After Attorney Richard D. Schuler presented the plaintiffs’ case to the judge against the developer/builder and the architect, he was awarded greater than $4.5 million for the daughters and the deceaseds’ estates in this case against the developer/builder and the architect.
Of course, this award will not bring back the parents of these two daughters, but hopefully it will show the defendants in this case that greater care needs to be taken when manufacturing, designing and installing air conditioning equipment in someone’s home.
Incidentally, there was one very disturbing coincidence in this case - the couple that purchased this home from the daughters of the deceased experienced the very same scenario when they too left their automobile running in the garage with the garage door closed, but luckily, they were able to escape the same fate and made it safely out of the home in time.
