On the evening of June 21, 2013, the plaintiffs’ decedent, a 26-year-old woman named Amanda who suffered bipolar disorder, telephoned 9-1-1 to report that she needed more time to turn her daughter over to the SWAT officers who were outside her home. However, there was no SWAT team at her home when she made the call. Two officers with the Modesto Police Department, Heilman and Ferguson, arrived at the Modesto home in response to the 9-1-1 call and found Amanda’s 4-year-old daughter, Shelia, in the street. Shelia allegedly told them that she had been locked out of the house and that her mother was sick. The officers entered the home and found it in disarray. When they located Amanda, she was in a bathroom holding a knife. The officers ordered her to drop the knife and then called for assistance. Approximately 10 officers responded to the call, and Sergeant Tait took command. He told Amanda to drop the knife and spoke with her for a few minutes, but Amanda refused to leave the home peacefully. As a result, the officers took Shelia into protective custody and left Amanda alone in her home. After receiving a call from Child Protective Services later that night, Amanda’s adult sister, Nicole, went to the police department to pick up Sheila. Nicole claimed that she told Heilman that Amanda struggled with bipolar disorder, which Amanda treated with Prozac, and offered to go to Amanda’s home to calm her. However, the police allegedly told Nicole not to engage with Amanda, and that the police would take Amanda for behavioral health services or to jail. However, hours after Sheila was taken by the police, a fire was reported at her home at 1:54 a.m. on June 22, 2013. Amanda, who was left alone in the home, was unable to escape the fire while allegedly in a state of catastrophic mental distress and illness. Fire safety officers found Amanda unconscious and carried her from the premises, but she died later that day from acute smoke and chemical inhalation. Nicole, acting as Sheila’s guardian ad litem, sued Sergeant Tait, Officers Heilman and Ferguson, and the officers’ employer, the city of Modesto. Nicole alleged that the defendants were deliberately indifferent to Amanda’s medical needs, in violation of Amanda’s civil and constitutional rights. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the Modesto police officers failed to disarm Amanda, who was 5 feet tall and weighed 110 pounds, or get her help. Counsel also contended that although the responding officers were all trained in suicide and crisis prevention, they only devoted a few minutes to actually speaking with Amanda before deciding to leave Amanda alone in her home, unattended and without crisis support. Counsel further contended that Nicole, based on what she was told by Heilman, did not know that Amanda was left alone in her delusional state and that Nicole believed that officers were still with Amanda. Plaintiff’s counsel asserted that the Modesto police officers wrongfully withdrew their assistance when Amanda posed a peril to herself and that the officers failed to warn her family members, which resulted in Amanda’s foreseeable death. Counsel also asserted that Amanda’s death could have been prevented if it had not been for the express and implied representations of the Modesto police officers and its agents to Amanda’s family members that the Modesto police officers had custody of Amanda and were going to take her either for behavior health services or to jail., Amanda was found unconscious in her home, which was on fire. She later died from smoke and toxic chemical inhalation on June 22, 2013. She was survived by her 4-year-old daughter, Sheila, and her sister, Nicole. Nicole, acting on behalf of Sheila, sought recovery of wrongful death damages for the loss of Amanda.