The Clarion Ledger has reported on a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a Tchula mother, who lost her two young children in a house fire, due to a defective electric stove installed in the woman's home.
C.B. lost her two children, aged 2 and 4, in the fire this past September 10.
The $30 million suit names C.B.'s former landlord and the makers of the Magic Chef electric stove.
Fire Marshal M.C. said that C.B. reported to him that the stove "would come on arbitrarily by itself." The state Fire Marshal's office investigation determined that the electrical stove in the home started the fire.
C.B. contends that her former landlord, L.W., was well aware of the trouble she had with the 8-month old stove as she have reported it to him on numerous occasions. Her attorney, Ed Blackmon, confirmed that as recent as the same week of the fire, his client had complained about the stove to her former landlord.
The stove, per C.B., had a habit of reigniting up to 30 minutes after being switched off, worked only at times, and sometimes required that she tap on the stove top's burners to get it to work.
Blackmon said, "A stove isn't supposed to spontaneously ignite."
The lawsuit was filed on October 6 in the Holmes County Circuit Court naming both L.W. and the Whirlpool/Maytag Corp., among others.
L.W., a Tchula alderman, claimed that he had no prior knowledge of the stove being defective in a telephone interview on October 1. He said, "I hate those two little children died, but I'm not sure anyone knows for sure what caused the fire."
In reporter's questions as to where he purchased the stoves, L.W. said that he had yet to locate the receipt. He acknowledged purchasing several units for his renters, but, when it came to C.B.'s, he failed to recall exactly where he had purchased hers.
Officials for Whirlpool and Maytag where unavailable for comment on October 1.
The suit states that C.B. woke up early in the morning to the sounds of someone yelling her name over and over. She got up and headed down the hallway towards the sound. As she neared the kitchen and front door she encountered so much smoke that it inundated her.
The smoke was coming directly from the kitchen.
Try as she could to move past the smoke and reach her children - she was unable to do it. She ended up diving through a bedroom window to get outside of the house.
C.B. suffered both throat and lung damage from the smoke she inhaled, and sustained other injuries in the fall.
C.B. regained her footing and tried to go back into the home to rescue her children. Firefighters from the Tchula Fire Department prevented her from reentering the home.
She remained outside, finally seeing her children's bodies removed.
The family had lived in the home less than a year. A different stove was in the home at the time she moved in but L.W. replaced the former stove with the new Magic Chef electric range.
The lawsuit states, "Within weeks of the placement and installation of the Magic Chef stove, plaintiff began to experience problems with it."
Have you lost a loved one due to a faulty product? Contact a personal injury lawyer today for help with filing your lawsuit.