Medics missed deadly clue before famous California farmers died in gas-filled home: suit

A celebrated Santa Barbara farming couple died hours after an emergency call brought paramedics to their friends’ home — but nobody checked the air for the invisible poison allegedly pouring into their bedroom, according to a new lawsuit.Coffee and exotic-fruit farmer John “Jay” Ruskey, 53, was vomiting, displaying seizure-like symptoms and had lost control of his bowels when his wife, Kristen, 49, called 911 early Feb.8 as the couple spent the night at their friends’ Cambria home, the suit alleged.Yet no one tested the air for carbon monoxide, switched off the water heater allegedly leaking the deadly gas or ventilated the rooms, the lawsuit claims.The couple returned to bed.

Hours later, both were found dead at the friends’ home, per the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.Their three children — Kasurina, 19 at the time, and 16-year-old twins Aiden and Sean — are suing homeowners Ben and Robin Korman and water heater manufacturer Navien Inc.over the deaths.The complaint alleges a failed exhaust system and a disconnected carbon monoxide detector left the Ruskeys exposed to a lethal threat during an overnight stay at the Kormans’ Cambria property.The suit claims that without an alarm or working detector, “neither the responding personnel nor the Korman Defendants nor anyone else at the Subject Property identified carbon monoxide as the cause of Jay’s symptoms.”The couple had attended a birthday bash with roughly 50 to 60 guests on Feb.

7 before settling into a guest bedroom around 2 a.m., according to the suit.As the household’s demand for hot water kept the tankless heater firing, carbon monoxide escaped through its allegedly failed venting system into the laundry room and adjoining bedroom, the complaint alleges.The only smoke and carbon monoxide detector in or immediately outside the bedroom had allegedly been disconnected from its wiring before the Ruskeys arrived, the suit claims.“No alarm ever sounded,” the lawsuit states....