On Feb. 1, 2011, plaintiff Marlene Leal, 23, a retail worker, moved into a rental apartment on Marchant Street in Watsonville. During the weekend of Feb. 12, 2011, plaintiff Juan Garcia-Trejo, Leal’s boyfriend, came to visit and stayed in the apartment. During the weekend, the couple suffered carbon monoxide poisoning rendering both of them unconscious. The Watsonville City Fire Department eventually broke into the apartment at around midnight on Sunday night and rescued the couple. Both plaintiffs claimed permanent from the carbon monoxide poisoning. Leal and Garcia-Trejo, by and through his guardian ad litem, Ismael Garcia-Lopez, sued the owners of the apartment, the property manager and a heater repair company. They alleged that the defendants negligently inspected and maintained a wall heater in the apartment. They also claimed that the owners and manager breached the of warranty of habitability. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the defendants negligently inspected and maintained a wall heater in the apartment unit that Leal rented. Counsel maintained that the wall heater was over 50 years old and had never been adequately inspected or maintained. The plaintiffs’ liability experts testified that due to the inadequate maintenance of the wall heater, it built up debris and soot that caused it to spill carbon monoxide into the apartment unit. The experts further testified that the manufacturer of the wall heater was last in business sometime in the mid-1950s. As a result, the heater repair company could not be served and was ultimately let out of the case. Thus, the matter continued against the apartment owners and property manager only. The apartment owners and the property manager denied liability, and claimed that they adequately inspected and maintained the subject wall heater. They contended that they last cleaned the wall heater shortly before Leal moved in on Feb. 1, 2011., Leal and Garcia-Trejo were both taken by ambulance to an emergency room in unconscious and unresponsive states. They subsequently endured lengthy comas and underwent hyperbaric oxygen treatments at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. After regaining consciousness, both Leal and Garcia-Trejo underwent extensive rehabilitation. Leal claimed that she is able to perform basic self-care, but that she can never be left alone for more than several hours at a time due to her cognitive impairments from the carbon monoxide poisoning. Her vocational experts opined that Leal will never be able to return to competitive employment and will never return to full independent living. Garcia-Trejo has several neurologic deficits that require 24/7 attendant care. He now requires assistance in all aspects of his basic life care and mobility, and is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. He also cannot feed himself, bath himself, and has little bowel or bladder function. His guardian claimed that Garcia-Trejo will never return to independent living or even be able to hold a job again. Thus, Leal claimed $376,000 in past medical costs ($67,000 of which was paid by MediCal), while Garcia-Trejo claimed $1.2 million in past medical costs ($350,000 of which was paid by MediCal). Both plaintiffs also sought recovery of damages for their future life care plans ranging from $8 million to $12 million. Leal additionally sought recovery of $1 million in damages for her future loss of earnings.