On Sept. 9, 2012, plaintiff’s decedent Jason Shmelnik, 23, was a passenger in the back seat of a 2007 BMW 650i that was operated by Pavel Volodkovich. A female passenger was also in the vehicle, seated in the front seat. Shmelnik and the vehicle’s occupants had attended a party at Romanov’s Restaurant earlier that evening. At around 3:30 a.m., the driver lost control of the vehicle near the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and Tujunga Avenue, in Studio City, and struck a natural gas pipe located on the front of a commercial building at 11412 Ventura Boulevard. Southern California Gas Co. owned and maintained the natural gas pipeline that serviced the commercial building. The pipe was made up of a one-inch metal vertical riser that came out of the sidewalk adjacent to the building, and included a valve and a 90-degree elbow that directed the pipe horizontally into the façade of the building. At that location, Ventura Boulevard was made up of five lanes of eastbound and westbound traffic, and had a posted speed limit of 35 mph. Romanov’s Restaurant was approximately one mile away from the exposed pipe. Volodkovich, who was intoxicated, was driving east along Ventura Boulevard at about 50 mph when he lost control of his vehicle, hit several objects along the street and curb, and collided with the commercial building. The impact sheared off the exposed pipe, which burst and caught fire. The leaking gasoline from the vehicle also ignited, and the fire soon engulfed the BMW, killing all three occupants. The decedent’s parents, Lola Shmelnik and Yuri Shmelnik, sued the driver’s mother, Svetlana Volodkovich, who was acting as representative of the estate of Pavel Volodkovich; the company that appeared to be the registered owner of the BMW, The Transportation Corp., doing business as The Used Car Club; the owner of The Transportation Corp., Vladislav Pichugin; the correct owner of the BMW, Vladimir Shnaider; an automotive dealer, Stellar Auto Inc.; the owner of the pipeline, Southern California Gas Co.; the indemnifier of Southern California Gas, the city of Los Angeles; and the property owner, SS Cal-Pacific Inc. Pichugin was dismissed from the case, as he produced paperwork indicating that he had sold the car to Shnaider the week before the incident. Svetlana Volodkovich was initially a plaintiff in a separate, but related, action, but she ultimately dismissed her case. In addition, several of the other defendants settled out of the case for a waiver of costs. Thus, the matter continued against only Southern California Gas and Shnaider. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the fire started at the pipe and then ignited leaking gasoline from the car, which then engulfed the BMW and killed the three occupants. Counsel also contended that there was evidence of a prior collision, whereby a car jumped the curb on Ventura Boulevard and severed the same exposed gas pipe. Thus, plaintiffs’ counsel asserted that Southern California Gas was under a duty to protect its gas lines from reasonably anticipated forces, loads, and impacts, including vehicular traffic, but that the steel meter guard installed at the time of the collision was not sufficient to protect the pipe against vehicular traffic. Counsel for Southern California Gas asserted that the gas company had met its duty by installing the meter guard and that the gasoline first ignited as a result of the collision and damage to the BMW, not because of the pipe., All three occupants of the BMW, including Jason Shmelnik, died of thermal burns. Jason Shmelnik died at the scene. He was 23 years old. The decedent’s parents claimed that their son was a former student at San Francisco’s Jewish Community High School of the Bay and a graduate of U.C. Davis. He was a prize-winning ballroom dancer and appeared on TV’s “Dancing with the Stars” in 2007. He also taught dance, started two construction companies, and traveled the world, including visiting Lvov, the Ukrainian hometown of his parents. His parents further claimed that their son had survived the subject impact, but was killed due to the thermal he sustained. Thus, the decedent’s parents sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of their adult son.