California Injury Blog
A man was dead in Norco after his trailer caught on fire sparked off by an electrical short from a remote-control car battery, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. Donald Lee Moss, 38, was asleep in his trailer when flames ripped through the RV he was staying in, the article stated.
Moss had reportedly gone to bed just before the fire broke out and was apparently planning to race his remote-control cars the next day. The battery for the cars was charging as he slept, the newspaper reported.
The fire was so intense and so powerful that that the heat caused the windows to burst out, the article said. Neighbors tried to help Moss, but they didn’t know if he was inside or had made it out. Finally, one neighbor smashed open a window using a hammer. Moss had suffered severe burns and died at the Corona Regional Medical Center shortly after he was taken there.
Officials say although the fire was accidental, they don’t know what exactly caused the charger or battery to short. The article also says that Moss, who worked for a sign company, built these remote-control cars as a hobby. What a tragedy for Moss and his family!
One of the people interviewed for the article calls it a “freak accident.” But the question here is: “Was this really a freak accident?” No one can tell for sure what caused it. Was it because the battery or battery charger were defective? It’s definitely a possibility. There’s really no way of knowing until Moss’ family decides to find out.
In our opinion, Moss’ family should get a product defect law firm to conduct a thorough and independent investigation of this incident as soon as possible. At a minimum, they need to appropriately secure and maintain all evidence, especially the battery charger and the battery itself.
Ideally, the family should retain a product defect law firm that is experienced with fire cases and has the resources, specifically investigators, who can jump on this case immediately. Some of the official fire investigations we have seen recently apparently were dropped because agencies did not have the time, resources or the expertise to do a thorough job.
In such cases, families of the deceased do not get the answers they so desperately seek in order to get some sense of closure. And remember, investigating a product defect not only helps you determine if you have a case, but also protects many others in the future from suffering death or injury from what may potentially be a dangerously defective product.