Faulty Bosch dishwasher causes house fire

Our specialist personal injury lawyers based at Thomson Snell & Passmore’s Tunbridge Wells and Dartford (Thames Gateway) offices, has secured compensation for a family who suffered psychological injuries after their Bosch dishwasher caused a fire to break out in their home as they slept.

The claimants in this personal injury claim were a mother (M), father (F) and daughter (D) from Kent.

At around 11:15pm M put the family’s Bosch dishwasher on before going up to bed. Within an hour of going to bed F awoke smelling smoke and woke M and D. The Bosch dishwasher had started an electrical fire in the kitchen which had developed and spread substantially as they slept.

The family made it safely out of the building but F went back into the house to save the family’s dogs. Thankfully no one suffered any physical injuries despite the house being gutted as a result of the fire.

After the fire the family all suffered psychological injury. M suffered from significant anxiety that the house would burn again. She suffered from depression and often felt it would have been better if she had burnt down with the house. She stated that on a few occasions she thought she could hear fire or see smoke at night. She felt constantly frightened and would not allow her grandchildren to sleep in the house when they visited. She suffered from disturbed sleep and feelings of panic.

F had significant problems sleeping and suffered from anxiety. He would not sleep at night so he could protect M and D whilst they slept. He would sleep between 8am – 10am and doze throughout the day instead. He no longer went out as often as he had done before the fire because he felt worried and anxious that the dogs were in the house and it might catch on fire again. He would also hear fire as well as see and smell smoke.

D experienced frequent nightmares involving losing M and F which would affect her sleep. She would regularly find herself thinking about the fire and felt anxious and lethargic all the time. She would sleep more than usual and nap during the day. She suffered from panic attacks following the fire and would not socialise with friends as much as before.

The team, acting for the claimants, instructed a psychology expert to report on the claimants’ injuries. After negotiating with BSH Home Appliances (Bosch) she was able to obtain out-of-court settlements of £25,000 (M), £20,000 (F) and £15,000 (D) for the family to compensate them for their injuries.