Ruskey Children Sue Over Parents’ Carbon Monoxide Deaths

The three children of Goleta farming pioneers Jay and Kristen Ruskey have sued a water heater manufacturer and the owners of the Cambria home where their parents died, alleging a faulty exhaust system and an inoperable carbon monoxide detector turned an overnight visit into a fatal poisoning.

The wrongful-death complaint names Irvine-based Navien, Inc., and homeowners Ben and Robin Korman. It claims a Navien tankless water heater continued operating after its exhaust vent failed, releasing carbon monoxide into the guest room where the Ruskeys were staying. The suit contends Navien knew about potentially deadly problems with its products, citing two recalls and at least nine associated deaths in the United States and abroad since 2019. 

On February 7, 2026, the Ruskeys traveled to Cambria to attend a birthday party at the Korman estate. Jay was 53 years old and Kristen was 49. Their children — a 19-year-old daughter and twin 16-year-old boys — did not go with them. Between 50 and 60 guests attended the event, and the Kormans invited the Ruskeys to spend the night. 

Throughout the evening, the water heater fired repeatedly to meet the hot water demands of the household, and “with each firing cycle it discharged carbon monoxide through the failed subject venting system into the laundry room and, through the connecting door, into the guest bedroom,” the complaint says.

At 4:34 a.m. Kristen called 9-1-1, saying her husband was in acute distress and might be having a seizure. Guests heard Jay screaming, and he lost control of his bowels while in bed. “Each of these is a potential sign of acute carbon monoxide poisoning,” the complaint continues, “which produces headaches, nausea and vomiting, confusion and agitation, loss of motor control, seizures, and loss of consciousness as carbon monoxide displaces oxygen from the blood.”

Kristen told the medics that John had consumed psychedelic mushrooms and was having a bad trip. While the medics suggested he go to the hospital, he declined, and the couple returned to the bedroom. Around 9:30 a.m., guests checked on the couple and found Kristen lying unresponsive on the laundry room floor and Jay in the bed, not breathing. Their deaths were ruled accidental and investigators later discovered that the bedroom’s carbon monoxide detector had been disconnected from its electrical wiring.

The Ruskeys’ deaths stunned Santa Barbara County’s agricultural and culinary communities, where the couple were known for pioneering California-grown coffee and cultivating unusual crops at Good Land Organics in western Goleta. Through Frinj Coffee, founded in 2017, they helped develop more than 70 coffee farms across Southern California.

In their suit, the Ruskey children said their family spent considerable time together, camping, mountain biking, paddleboarding, and holding cookouts around the pond at the family farm. “On February 8, 2026, the Ruskey children’s world crumbled. They lost two committed parents and a lifetime of love, support, guidance, and comfort,” the suit states, which seeks product liability damages from Navien and premises liability damages from the Kormans.

Requests for comment from Navien and the Kormans were not returned by press time.

The Ruskey children are represented by attorney David C. Shay. “Our focus remains on establishing the facts and pursuing accountability for this family,” Shay said. “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.”

Navien water heaters have been recalled multiple times, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. A 2011 notice warned that a detached vent collar “poses a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning to the consumer.” The commission announced a similar recall in 2018. 

Other lawsuits have linked Navien water heaters to fatal carbon monoxide poisonings. Relatives of two parents and their two children who died at home in 2020 alleged that a poorly designed exhaust pipe on a Navien unit contributed to their deaths. 

Just five days before the Ruskeys died, a federal lawsuit was filed over the deaths of three women vacationing at a Belize resort. That suit alleged that a gas-powered Navien water heater vented lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide into their suite.