On Aug. 24, 2013, plaintiff Araceli Castellano Zuniga, 25, and her husband, plaintiff’s decedent Jose Flores, 36, attended Cherry Avenue Auction to sell auto parts. In recent years, vendors at the auction, including Zuniga and Flores, started using advertisement banners to attract customers. As Zuniga and Flores were setting up their vendor booth, the 28-foot advertisement banner attached to their vendor booth struck a high voltage power line that was 26.5 feet from the ground. Flores was immediately electrocuted. Zuniga suffered an electric shock, resulting in burns to her hands and feet. Zuniga sued the operator of the auction, Cherry Avenue Auction Inc.; the owner of the land from which the auction operated, W.D. & M.S. Mitchell Family Partnership; the management company that operated the auction, Kinsman Enterprises, LLC; and the power company, Pacific Gas & Electric. PG & E was ultimately removed from the case. Plaintiff’s counsel noted that the auction has 800 spaces to rent, but only 20 of them are located under high voltage power lines. Although Zuniga and Flores had sold at the auction approximately eight times before the incident, their vendor booth was never one of the 20 or so vendor spaces below the high voltage power lines and the date of the incident was the first time they were at a vendor space located below high voltage power lines. As such, plaintiff’s counsel contended that Zuniga and Flores were unaware of the dangers the power lines posed. Counsel also contended that Flores and Zuniga did not see the power lines as they lifted their banner because their view was blocked by a canopy covering their booth. In addition, plaintiff’s counsel contended that auction officials never pointed out the power lines to the couple nor did they post signs to warn of the dangers of the power lines. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the dangerous nature of the high voltage power lines was not obvious to the general population, including one of the auction’s own owners, Neil Burson, who testified to that effect. Counsel argued that although the other owner, James Neilson, testified that he knew the lines were dangerous, the owner still did nothing to warn vendors about their dangerous nature. Counsel also argued that the defendants knew or should have known vendors were erecting advertisement banners in close proximity to high voltage power lines. Plaintiff’s counsel further contended that the defendants did not have a formal inspection program and did not train any of their employees as to how to identify hazardous conditions. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that the remedy to prevent contact with the high voltage power lines was simple in that out of 800 spaces, the defendants could have blocked off the 20 or so vendor spaces below the high voltage power lines. Counsel argued that by selling vendor spaces under the high-voltage power lines, the defendants created a dangerous condition and caused such an accident to be inevitable. Defense counsel contended that advertisement banners of 28 feet or high were never used at the auction. However, after Burson testified that he had never seen an advertisement banner as high as 28 feet at the auction at any time, plaintiff’s counsel called a rebuttal witness to testify as to the height of advertisement banners being as high as 34 feet the Saturday after Burson took the stand. Defense counsel noted that the power lines had been in place since the 1930s and that the market had operated more than four decades without someone getting electrocuted. Counsel argued that the power lines were an obvious hazard and that Zuniga and Flores should have known the power lines were dangerous and made sure to lift the banner safely., Flores was electrocuted and died at the scene. He was 36 years old. He was survived by his wife, Zuniga, whom he married in 2009. They lived in Tulare. Zuniga sustained an electric shock, resulting in electric burns to her hands and feet. She also claimed bystander emotional distress as a result of witnessing her husband’s death.