On Sept. 5, 2011, plaintiffs’ decedent Lamia Tansel, 59, a jewelry seller, and her husband, plaintiff Mehmet Tansel, 63, a salesman, rented a canoe from Shaver Lake Sports Inc. to use at Shaver Lake, in Fresno County. The Tansels signed written waivers of liability as part of the rental agreement and were offered, but rejected, life vests before they used the canoe. While riding around the lake, the canoe capsized and Ms. Tansel began to drown. She was rescued, but she ultimately died. Mr. Tansel and the couple’s adult son, Baris Tansel, sued Shaver Lake Sports Inc., which rented the canoe, and Southern California Edison Co., which owned the land and had a licensing agreement with Shaver Lake Sports. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that federal and state law required Shaver Lake Sports to equip each rented canoe with one personal flotation device per person on board. However, counsel contended that the canoe that the Tansels rented was not equipped with a personal flotation device and that as a result, the decedent drowned. Plaintiffs’ counsel further contended that Southern California Edison had contractual and legal duties to ensure that its licensee followed the law. Defense counsel asserted that the liability waiver signed by the Tansels was an absolute bar to the plaintiffs’ claims. Counsel also asserted that the Tansels had expressly and impliedly assumed the risk by refusing personal flotation devices and that the federal and state laws mandating the use of personal flotation devices applied to the user, and not the renter, of the canoe. Thus, defense counsel asserted that Mehmet Tansel was responsible for causing the canoe to capsize. In addition, Southern California Edison’s counsel asserted that Southern California Edison was not vicariously liable for the acts of its licensee., After falling into the water, Ms. Tansel, 59, started to drown. She was eventually rescued, but it was ultimately determined that she had asphyxiated and was pronounced dead at the scene. Mehmet Tansel, then a 63-year-old salesman, and Baris Tansel, then a 36-year-old Web designer, claimed that their family was close. They sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of Ms. Tansel. Mehmet Tansel also sought recovery of emotional distress damages as a result of witnessing his wife’s drowning.