Henderson v. Sunbeam Corp.

Henderson's (plaintiff) electric blanket, made by Sunbeam (defendant), caused a bedroom fire. Both of Henderson's expert witnesses agreed the blanket caused the fire, but disagreed on which part of its electrical system was responsible; one testified a broken connection caused the fire but could not specify which one because the fire had destroyed the blanket. Sunbeam challenged the sufficiency of this circumstantial evidence.

Whether a plaintiff may prove causation with circumstantial evidence where the allegedly defective product has largely destroyed itself, making direct evidence of the precise defect unavailable.