The children of the Goleta-area couple who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in February have filed a lawsuit alleging negligence against two Cambria homeowners and a water heater company.
John “Jay” Ruskey, 53, and Kristen Ruskey, 49, were owners of Good Land Organics, an exotic fruit and coffee farm west of Goleta. Jay Ruskey also cofounded FRINJ Coffee.
They were found unresponsive at a Cambria home on Feb. 8, and the San Luis Obispo County coroner determined they died of toxic effects of carbon monoxide. The deaths were determined to be accidental.
Friends, family and coworkers organized a GoFundMe account to financially support the Ruskey children – Kasurina, who was 19 at the time, and 16-year-old twins Aiden and Sean – and it raised $195,500.
The Ruskey children and Brent Waldman, a family friend and guardian for the twins who are minors, filed the lawsuit Oct. 26 against Navien, Inc., a company that made the gas-powered tankless water heater in the home, and the homeowners, Ben and Robin Korman.
The civil complaint was filed in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court by attorneys with Panish, Shea, Ravipudi LLP and Shernoff Bidard Echeverria LLP.
The case has not yet been assigned a case number, according to Panish, Shea Ravipudi LLP, which provided Noozhawk a copy of the filing.
Civil lawsuits represent one side of the story, and attorneys for the various defendants are expected to file responses disputing the allegations in the coming months.
The Ruskey couple traveled without their children to the Kormans house to attend a birthday celebration and they spent the night in the guest bedroom, according to the lawsuit.
The case alleges that the water heated “fired repeatedly to meet the hot water demands of a household full of overnight guests” and “discharged carbon monoxide through the failed subject venting system into the laundry room and, through the connecting door, into the guest bedroom.”
The coroner investigation found that there was a combination smoke and carbon monoxide detector in the bedroom, but that it was disconnected.
The lawsuit alleges the Kormans should have known it was disconnected from its electrical wiring, and there was no carbon monoxide detection device in the immediate vicinity of the guest bedroom or laundry room.
“No alarm ever sounded,” the case states.
Kristen Ruskey reportedly called 9-1-1 around 4:34 a.m. on Feb. 8, about two and a half hours after they went to bed, to report that “Jay was in acute distress,” the lawsuit says.
He was screaming, vomiting, “exhibited seizure-like activity, and had lost control of his bowels while in bed.” The civil complaint alleges these are potential signs of acute carbon monoxide poisoning.
Emergency medical responders evaluated Jay but he was not transported to the hospital. No one identified carbon monoxide poisoning as a potential cause of his symptoms at the time, the lawsuit alleges, and no one tested the air, shut off the water heater or ventilated the space.
The Ruskeys went back to bed.
Guests in the home went to check on them around 10 a.m. and found them unresponsive. They did CPR and called 9-1-1, according to the lawsuit. Responders declared them both dead at the scene.
Autopsies and toxicology reports determined that Jay died of toxic effects of carbon monoxide and Kristen died of toxic effects of carbon monoxide and ethyl alcohol.
Five days after their deaths, the Kormans called a sheriff’s detective assigned to the case and “reported having information that there were increased carbon monoxide levels inside the subject property at that time,” the lawsuit says.
A deputy checked the detector in the guest bedroom and confirmed it was disconnected, and that there was no other detector in that room.
The lawsuit alleges strict products liability and negligence against Navien, Inc., the water heater company, and premises liability and negligence against the Kormans. It asks for monetary damages for the Ruskey children, who were deprived of financial support and “lost two committed parents and a lifetime of love, support, guidance, and comfort.”
The civil complaint alleges the water heater can discharge carbon monoxide directly into the building if the vent exhaust becomes disconnected or otherwise fails to work. It alleges that the company issued previous recalls related to venting issues.
“The deaths of Jay and Kristen Ruskey were a devastating and preventable tragedy that left three children without their parents,” said plaintiff attorney David Shay in a statement.
“Postmortem testing confirmed lethal levels of carbon monoxide in both Jay and Kristen’s blood, and the coroner attributed their deaths to carbon monoxide poisoning. Our focus remains on establishing the facts and pursuing accountability for this family.
“As colder weather arrives and November marks Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month, the Ruskey family urges everyone to install working carbon monoxide detectors in their homes and test them regularly.”
