FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) – The estate of a woman who sustained severe burns and injuries when she tried to light a gasoline-soaked brush pile with a cigarette lighter has lost its lawsuit against the property owner.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 23 in favor of Lawrence and Linda Hardison, a Shepherdsville couple with whom Karen Burden lived in 2013.
On June 30 of that year, Burden helped the two collect brush into a pile. Linda poured gas on the pile and went inside to retrieve matches.
Linda testified that Burden suggested she could light it with a cigarette lighter instead, but she says she told her not to. However, when Linda was inside, she heard an explosion. Burden had used her lighter and suffered serious burns and injuries.
Burden sued the couple in Bullitt Circuit Court on Dec. 20, 2013, and died a week later. Her estate alleges she died from her burn injuries.
But the Hardisons say Burden died from cancer, an assertion not referenced in the estate’s appellate brief. The trial court judge had found Burden died “from health issues not related to this incident.”
Other problems with the estate’s case are that it relief on a videotaped statement made by Burden before her death that was ruled inadmissible hearsay and statements from neighbors that were taken not under oath nor in the presence of attorneys.
Exceptions to the hearsay rule for Burden’s statement didn’t apply because it was taken prior to filing the lawsuit and did not pertain to the cause of her death.
(W)e cannot conclude that the Hardisons breached any duty of care or otherwise acted unreasonably in regard to Karen under the facts of this case. In fact, Karen participated in creating the dangerous condition on the Hardisons’ property that she now complains of,” Judge Jeff Taylor wrote.
“And, it certainly was not foreseeable that Karen would light the fire with a cigarette lighter after Linda specifically instructed her not to. In other words, the only reasonable conclusion that can be reached in this case is that the Hardisons were not the legal cause of the injuries suffered by Karen.”