On March 30, 2011, plaintiff Michael Buchanan, 54, a substitute teacher, was preparing to use a Wedgewood oven in the trailer home that he was renting in Los Gatos. As he knelt down to manually ignite the burner located at the bottom of the oven and flicked the lighter a couple of times, an explosion occurred. Buchanan suffered burns to his face and he claimed an injury to his left eye. Buchanan sued the owner of the trailer, David Johnson, and the manufacturer of the oven, Wedgewood. He alleged that Johnson negligently inspected and maintained the vintage oven in the trailer, creating a dangerous condition. He also attempted to bring products liability claims against Wedgewood, but the company was never served as it had gone out business. Thus, the matter proceeded against Johnson only. Buchanan claimed that when he moved into the trailer in November 2010, the 50-year-old oven had not been used in many years and was hooked up to a propane gas tank outside without any modifications. He alleged that the oven was not designed to be hooked up to a propane tank, causing it to burn at a higher rate of gas velocity. Thus, he claimed that Johnson’s negligence in hooking up the oven, and failing to repair and/or maintain it caused the oven to explode while he was igniting it. Defense counsel acknowledged the that higher rate of gas velocity burns differently than the gas that was supposed to be used by the oven, but contended that this led to a series of small, minor explosions when Buchanan ignited it prior to the accident. As a result, counsel asserted that Buchanan was comparatively at fault for continuing to light the oven over the course of several months despite knowing that small explosions were occurring., Buchanan claimed that he suffered burns to his face and left eye when the oven exploded. He ultimately went to a doctor after noticing that his eye started to go blurry four days after the accident. He claimed that he had no medical insurance and that by the time that he located a doctor that would see him, a week had gone by since the accident and he found that he had lost vision in the left eye. Buchanan claimed that his treating doctor diagnosed him with central retinal vein occlusion, a common retinal vascular disorder. He was subsequently treated with injections into his eye to relieve the pressure caused by the CRVO. Despite treatment, Buchanan suffered a complete and permanent loss of vision in his left eye. He claimed that his loss of vision affected all aspects of his life, from driving to bumping into things while teaching in a classroom. He also claimed that the lack of depth perception has had a severe impact on his daily living. Thus, Buchanan sought recovery of general damages for his complete loss of vision in the left eye. He claimed the damages sought included his past medical expenses in the amount of $21,000. Defense counsel asserted that Buchanan’s CRVO was not caused by the oven explosion. The defense’s expert ophthalmologist opined that the onset of the CRVO, which eventually caused Buchanan’s loss of vision, was not caused by trauma, but rather due to old age.