LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A married couple has settled a lawsuit against their landlord in which both alleged they nearly died in their ground-level Glendale apartment after being exposed to extremely high levels of carbon monoxide in 2023 because their unit lacked carbon monoxide alarms.
Attorneys for Jason Michael Plummer and Veronica Eileen Urias filed court papers on Monday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jon R. Takasugi notifying him that their suit against Vartges “Mark” Markarian was resolved. No terms were divulged.
“This case underscores the harm that results when landlords care more about money than tenant health and safety, and recklessly fail to comply with basic health and safety requirements applicable to the ownership and management of residential rental properties,” the suit filed in April 2023 stated.
The plaintiffs maintained they were exposed to chronic carbon monoxide leaks from a defective and/or inadequately maintained wall furnace and stove in their Glenoaks Boulevard apartment.
Plummber and Urias believe that during a rainy period in March 2023, an unqualified handyman hired by the landlord stripped the roof and covered it with plastic sheeting, covering the vent for the stove and wall furnace and leading to the dispersal of dangerous amounts of the odorless gas.
The apartment also lacked any carbon monoxide alarms so money could be saved and the building’s cash flow increased, the suit alleged.
In their court papers, Markarian’s attorneys denied liability on their client’s part and cited multiple defenses to the plaintiffs’ allegations, including that any damages the couple suffered were caused by “an idiosyncratic condition” for which Markarian could not have done anything to avoid.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric announced today 22 awardees of a grant program aimed at preventing carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. The state and local governments were selected by CPSC, from a group of 31 applicants. CPSC will provide more than $3 million in federal Carbon Monoxide Poisoning PreventionGrant Program (COPPGP) funds that will be matched by $1 million in recipient funds. This will fund state and local government efforts to reduce deaths and injuries from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning PreventionGrant Program Awards
Awardee
State
Award Amount
Alaska Department of Public Safety
Alaska
$100,000.00
City of Huntington Beach
California
$53,400.00
City & County of Denver
Colorado
$82,500.00
Government of District of Columbia
District of Columbia
$130,000.00
State of Georgia Department of Public Health
Georgia
$178,577.93
City of Aurora
Illinois
$51,000.00
Louisiana State Fire Marshal
Louisiana
$37,500.00
Maryland Department of State Police
Maryland
$200,000.00
City of Boston
Massachusetts
$260,031.75
City of Pontiac
Michigan
$300,000.00
Minnesota Department of Public Safety
Minnesota
$200,000.00
New Hampshire Department of Safety
New Hampshire
$90,772.50
City of Jamestown
New York
$176,297.23
City of Syracuse
New York
$50,000.00
County of Rockland
New York
$100,000.00
Gates Fire District
New York
$50,000.00
City of Akron
Ohio
$76,460.00
City of Portland
Oregon
$320,000.00
City of Sevierville
Tennessee
$41,250.00
Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
Tennessee
$300,000.00
Vermont Department of Public Safety
Vermont
$50,772.01
Central Pierce Fire & Rescue
Washington
$187,500.00
CPSC’s grant program is authorized through the Nicholas and Zachary Burt Memorial Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2022 to provide eligible state, local, and tribal governments with grants to purchase and install CO alarms in residential homes and dwelling units of low-income families or elderly people and facilities that serve children or the elderly, including childcare centers, public schools and senior centers, and to develop training and public education programs with the goal of preventing CO poisoning. This legislation was sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) in the Senate, and Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Georgia) and Rep. Annie Kuster (D-New Hampshire) in the House. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on March 15, 2022.
“Following the deaths of two boys from carbon monoxide poisoning in their home, Congress enacted this grant program to prevent future tragedies. I am pleased that we are moving forward with these 22 grants to states and localities that will enable them to educate their residents and prevent CO poisoning in their communities,” said CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric.
Grantees will have two years to use the funding to purchase and install CO alarms and complete training and education efforts.
The burning of fuels produces CO, which is a colorless, odorless gas. Exposure to unhealthy levels of CO can lead to CO poisoning, a serious health condition that could result in death. Unintentional CO poisoning from motor vehicles and fuel-burning appliances, such as furnaces, water heaters, portable generators, and stoves, annually kill more than 400 individuals. CO alarms save lives and should be installed on every level and outside sleeping areas in residences.
#DYK carbon monoxide (CO) and natural gas are not the same? Both can be lethal, albeit in different ways. A CO detector/alarm will not detect a natural gas leak. Combo alarms are available that detect both.
“Smoke alarms have become common…and even carbon monoxide sensors are gaining acceptance. But what many people may not realize is that natural gas detectors can give people an early warning that could avert disaster.”
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Suspected in the Deaths of two Santa Rosa Residents
On Tues., Nov. 7, 2023, at approximately 9:34 a.m., the Santa Rosa Fire and Police Departments were dispatched to 2705 Range Ave. for a medical incident involving two elderly adults down on the floor in an apartment and possibly deceased. The responding fire crew arrived and was met outside a first-floor apartment of a two-story multi-unit apartment complex by a maintenance representative. The representative advised that he entered the apartment to complete routine maintenance, found them and called 911.
The City of Santa Rosa Fire Dept. crew entered the apartment and located the two subjects. While checking for signs of life, it was determined that the subjects may have been exposed to carbon monoxide. Fire crews exited the residence, donned self-contained breathing apparatus, and re-entered the residence with specialized air monitoring equipment. The monitor confirmed high levels of carbon monoxide present. During the re-entry and while completing a thorough search of the residence, Fire crews located a dog inside a bedroom. The dog was still awake and alert, removed from the residence and turned over to Sonoma County’s Animal Control.
The Santa Rosa Police Dept. assisted the Fire crews in checking the remaining eleven apartments in the building for residents and the presence of carbon monoxide. Five residents from various apartments were located and evacuated from the building. All other apartments were clear of any carbon monoxide, and none of the additional residents had any medical complaints.
Santa Rosa Fire crews assisted the Santa Rosa Police Dept. with the investigation of the incident. Based on the preliminary investigation, it is believed that the deaths were the result of carbon monoxide poisoning from a natural gas fueled appliance. The official cause of death is pending the completion of victim autopsies by the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office. The investigation is ongoing. Santa Rosa Police and Fire were assisted by the Santa Rosa Building Division, AMR and PG&E.
SANTA CRUZ — A local hotel’s guests were rushed to an area hospital late Saturday night for treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said.
Responding to a report of occupants in medical distress shortly after 11 p.m. at the Ocean Street business, Santa Cruz firefighters investigated what they quickly believed was a gas leak after encountering two individuals suffering acute carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a department release.
With the help of gas monitoring equipment, firefighters discovered carbon monoxide had been leaking into an unoccupied hotel mechanical room and spreading to the building’s east wing. Firefighters woke up several hotel guests, evacuated 14 rooms and temporarily displaced 25 people. Varying levels of carbon monoxide were present in the affected rooms, according to the agency.
The leak’s source was traced to a faulty ventilation system attached to a bank of hot water heaters. Firefighters ventilated the affected areas before returning the building over to its owner.
“Gene Beauchamp, 74, was an Army veteran and served in the Vietnam War…and Phil Mabray, a 61-year-old resident of Biggs in Butte County, were found dead Wednesday at a home on Spinnaker Close in The Sea Ranch…they were discovered by a crew from Gualala-based Gonzalez Tree Service that had been called in to remove a tree that fell onto the home…exact causes of death are being investigated, but the sheriff’s office has pointed to evidence indicating possible carbon monoxide poisoning….a generator was discovered in a hallway of the home, its switch on and its fuel tank empty…about a third of the homes in the community are occupied full time, a third are weekenders and the remainder are vacation and long-term rentals.”
“Sacramento Fire Department Public Information Officer Keith Wade said around 5:30 p.m. Friday residents at an apartment building at 999 Arcade Boulevard called PG&E for an issue. Once at the apartment, PG&E ascertained that the wall heater had a carbon monoxide build-up.”
“Over the last week, some employees began experiencing headaches and nausea. Some employees say they originally mistook the symptoms and thought they were heat-related…’I would think that the fire department would require them to have carbon monoxide detectors along with the smoke detectors,’ said Troy Unterein, a Customer at Burgers & Beer.”
“A Japanese restaurant in Temecula has been closed temporarily after a hazmat team responded two nights in a row to reports of an unusual odor that was making people ill.
The source of the odor at Shogun Restaurant in the 41500 block of Margarita Road hasn’t been determined, a health official said Sunday.
It’s unclear if it was related to high levels of carbon monoxide that the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health detected near the dishwashing area Friday night.”
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