On Nov. 13, 2012, plaintiff’s decedent Lauren Humphrey, 46, unemployed, was living at the Oakwood Apartments, in Woodland Hills, when a fire started in her unit. Humphrey was chronically ill, and drug and alcohol dependent. She was also known to be a heavy smoker and drinker. As a result, she had not worked in years and her mother, plaintiff Shirley Oliver, 79, supported her, including renting her a furnished “corporate apartment.” One of the items in the furnished apartment was an “Apex” television set, which was supplied by Oakwood Apartments and which Oliver believed started the fire in Humphrey’s unit. When the emergency personnel arrived at the scene, Humphrey was found to be nonresponsive. She was ultimately declared dead at the scene. At the time, she had a blood alcohol level of 0.28 and had prescription pain medication in her system. The Los Angeles Fire Department concluded the cause of the fire was “undetermined.” Oliver sued a Chinese company that manufactured the subject TV, Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. Ltd.; an American company that sells TVs under the name “Apex and sold the subject TV to Oakwood Apartments, Apex Digital Inc. (also sued as “Apex Digital LLC”); and the operator of Oakwood Apartments, Worldwide Corporate Housing L.P. She also sued Archstone Communities LLC, Archstone Developer LLC, Archstone Property Management, ASN Woodland Hills East LLC, Oakwood Woodland Hills Lessee LLC, Oakwood Worldwide Local LLC, and Time Warner Cable Inc. Cisco Systems Inc., Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc. and Equity Residential Properties Management Corp. were later added to the case as defendants. Oliver alleged that Apex Digital was a distributor in the sense that it sold the TV to Worldwide Corporate Housing and that Worldwide Corporate Housing was a distributor in the sense that it supplied the TV to Humphrey. She also alleged that Sichuan Changhong Electric defectively manufactured the subject TV, that Cisco Systems defectively manufactured the cable box, that Time Warner Cable distributed the cable box to Humphrey, and that the remaining defendants failed to properly maintain the property. Apex Digital ultimately settled out for a confidential sum prior to trial, and several of the other defendants were dismissed from the case. The matter continued against Worldwide Corporate Housing only. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the subject TV was defective, based on the “consumer expectation test.” Counsel also contended that since Worldwide Corporate Housing distributed the TV to Humphrey, Worldwide Corporate Housing was liable under a strict products liability theory. In addition, plaintiff’s counsel denied that Humphrey was in anyway at fault for her own demise. The plaintiff’s fire cause and origin expert opined that the fire started in the shelving area next to the bed, where a TV and cable box were located. Defense counsel for Worldwide Corporate Housing denied the fire started in the subject TV and disputed that Worldwide Corporate Housing was in the chain of distribution. Counsel also argued that Humphrey was at fault for her own death, in that Humphrey failed to get out of the apartment due to being intoxicated. The defense’s fire cause and origin expert essentially agreed that the fire started in the shelving area, but he disputed that the “point of origin” could be narrowed down to the position of the TV in the shelf. The defense’s electrical engineering expert disagreed that the evidence of arcing in the TV was due to a fire starting in the TV and, instead, opined that it was from an external fire. However, he never identified the ignition source. The defense’s toxicology expert explained Humphrey’s blood alcohol concentration level and testified that it represented that Humphrey had anywhere from 10 to 16 alcoholic drinks. He also testified that Humphrey was likely asleep when the fire started and that Humphrey’s level of intoxication likely made her unable to respond to the fire., Humphrey, 46, was determined to have suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning and subsequently died at the scene. Humphrey’s mother, Oliver, has two other adult children, a son and a daughter. Oliver’s first husband, Humphrey’s father, was murdered while covering the Jonestown cult for NBC news. Oliver’s second husband died after the subject incident, but before trial, due to failing health. Oliver testified that she had been through a lot with her daughter, including the unexpected murder of Humphrey’s father when Humphrey was in 7th grade, and that the two had been very close over the years notwithstanding. She also testified that even though she moved out of state to Montana, she continued to talk with Humphrey on the phone every day, on average for an hour. Thus, Oliver testified that the loss of her daughter left a significant void in her life. Oliver sought recovery of $5 million in wrongful death damages for the loss of her adult daughter.