Cody Ceci sued for 8 million for freak accident

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

'Indescribable emotional trauma and personal upheaval' Lawsuit seeks $8 million from Cody Ceci and others following freak accident

Hana Engel, the Ottawa woman who was burned and left permanently scarred in a freak accident in May 2018 while at a dinner party hosted by Cody Ceci, is now suing the former Ottawa Senator in a lawsuit seeking more than $8 million in damages.
The statement of claim, filed July 23, describes the wild few seconds on the night of May 9, 2018 when Ceci’s common law partner Jamie Thompson, who is named as a co-defendant in the suit, accidentally ignited Engel with flaming liquid ethanol burner fuel and she was “immediately engulfed in flames.”
Thompson was trying to refill one of three burners on an outdoor tabletop fireplace around 9 p.m. that night with Engel and other guests seated around the table in Ceci’s back yard in Stittsville.
According to the lawsuit, “without checking to determine if the burner had cooled and/or completely extinguished,” Thompson squirted the ethanol into the burner, causing “flames and ethanol to jet out of the bottle,” which was still in her hands when she “immediately threw the burning bottle in Hana’s direction.
“Hana’s clothing caught fire and she was immediately engulfed in flames.”
Engel, now 25, and her partner, Jake Cardwell, a teammate of Ceci from their days with the Ottawa 67’s, spoke to this newspaper in the weeks following the accident as Engel continued her recovery after three weeks in a medically-induced coma and 18 hours of surgeries and skin grafts over three separate operations, an ordeal which is also detailed in the lawsuit.

Damn.

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[razor8]

How is it Codys fault if his common law partner f***ed up? Because he has money?

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

How is it Codys fault if his common law partner ****ed up? Because he has money?

I’m guessing that If it occurred at his house, then he can probably be held liable as well. I’m no lawyer though and don’t understand the implications of a common law partner and how their finances are shared or not. We also don’t know his role, in that did he instruct her to refill it? Etc

That said, a lawyer is always going to go after the deepest pockets they can. It’s the reason why rich people take means to protect themselves (trusts, LLCs, large umbrella policies, etc)

Awful situation and I can’t imagine what that woman has been through and continues to go through.

 

[Jugitsu]

How much is she realistically going to get out of that 8 million? Obviously she deserves something for her trouble, but millions seem a little excessive, no? Though that's the NA style of things I suppose.

edit:

Since my initial reaction has drawn some ire from fellow posters and probably won't spark many to read the correspondence that came after , let me elaborate a bit:

After my initial post I have been educated how Canadian justice system and insurance on the matter work. First of all, Ceci is not paying this out of his own pocket but rather his insurance company is. A fellow educated poster even hinted - which seems viable - that with the system in place, Ceci might be helping his friend in the matter since the only way to extract compensation from insurance companies seem to be suing the liable party, which is Ceci and his better half.

I do not think the injured woman should be left without compensation. What she and her family have gone through is something unimaginable. I did not read the followup stories until after I had posted. However, I still stand by my original reaction in a sense that I don't buy the 6 million of loss of income part of the lawsuit. I also am baffled how her parents, husband and siblings are able to sue for another 1.4 million dollars. I would like to see the basis behind these numbers.

Now I do realize after a lengthy conversation with fellow educated Canadian posters, that basically the ask is never expected to materialize in full. Still I believe you can't just pull numbers out of your ass and they have to be based on something, hence why I cling on the 6 million in loss of income. I realize that the person in question is a small business owner of a Yoga establishment but still that would make her extremely (read: rare) successful in her art. A subject I haven't been able to find any information because apparently economic records aren't public in Canada.

The whole culture of suing people or companies for outrageous amounts of money intrigues me and draws my attention every time. Every single case is unique so generalization is something neither I or anybody else should resort easily.

I'm not trying to be a dick by asking these questions. I am simply very curious about cases like these. Sadly as I'm told, this matter will probably be settled outside of the court and regardless financial matters won't be published.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I’m guessing that If it occurred at his house, then he can probably be held liable as well. I’m no lawyer though and don’t understand the implications of a common law partner and how their finances are shared or not. We also don’t know his role, in that did he instruct her to refill it? Etc

That said, a lawyer is always going to go after the deepest pockets they can. It’s the reason why rich people take means to protect themselves (trusts, LLCs, large umbrella policies, etc)

Awful situation and I can’t imagine what that woman has been through and continues to go through.

I think a lot of times it has to do with insurance? So Cody would have the bigger insurance policy, the money would likely be paid by the insurance company, so he's named in the lawsuit? I remember that being the story with the aunt who sued her nephew over a broken arm- she couldn't just sue the parents because they didn't have insurance or something, so to get money to rehab the arm she had to sue a child (which looked terrible) in order to get the insurance company to pay up (which just isn't a good system, but eh).

Anyways, terrible situation, I just feel bad for all involved. A small mistake and 4 lives are worse off for it, sucks man.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

My condolences go out to Hana Engel and her family. I hope she is able to complete a full recovery.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Man that sounds horrible for the women that was burned. Just sitting around having a glass of wine and then your on fire.

 

[Garbage Goal]

Morally Ceci doesn’t deserve blame or liability here. Legally, I’m not sure what common law would require in terms of liability here. If it means they share finances or their finances are otherwise bound then legally he’s liable I guess. Financially, I have to imagine Ceci is the only one capable of paying that unless his partner is wealthy too.

Whatever the case, she definitely deserves to be set for life and Ceci’s partner definitely owes it to her. Completely her fault even if it was an accident. Freaking threw a bottle of flammable fluid engulfed in flames at her.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I think a lot of times it has to do with insurance? So Cody would have the bigger insurance policy, the money would likely be paid by the insurance company, so he's named in the lawsuit? I remember that being the story with the aunt who sued her nephew over a broken arm- she couldn't just sue the parents because they didn't have insurance or something, so to get money to rehab the arm she had to sue a child (which looked terrible) in order to get the insurance company to pay up (which just isn't a good system, but eh).

Anyways, terrible situation, I just feel bad for all involved. A small mistake and 4 lives are worse off for it, sucks man.

Yeah that’s what I meant by deep pockets. He likely has a large umbrella liability policy (if he’s smart) and thus an attorney is going there first. Even if he doesn’t, an attorney would go after him if it happened at his residence.

 

[greasysnapper]

How much is she realistically going to get out of that 8 million? Obviously she deserves something for her trouble, but millions seem a little excessive, no? Though that's the NA style of things I suppose.

Google the pictures, then imagine it happened to you. It doesn't seem enough honestly.

 

[razor8]

Google the pictures, then imagine it happened to you. It doesn't seem enough honestly.

Yeah, she deserves something for her pain and suffering. Just lucky that the party was held by a multimillionaire, isn't it? Tough to get 8 million out of a coal miner.

I'm European so I just don't get these multi million dollar lawsuits, but whatever. You seem happy with the system, so what the hell do I know.

 

[FissionFire]

I imagine Ceci owns the home this happened at so it would fall under his homeowners policy which is why he needs to be included in the lawsuit.

Odds are Ceci himself nor his partner ever pay a dime in actual damages personally. It’ll all go under insurance.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Morally Ceci doesn’t deserve blame or liability here. Legally, I’m not sure what common law would require in terms of liability here. If it means they share finances or their finances are otherwise bound then legally he’s liable I guess. Financially, I have to imagine Ceci is the only one capable of paying that unless his partner is wealthy too.

Whatever the case, she definitely deserves to be set for life and Ceci’s partner definitely owes it to her. Completely her fault even if it was an accident. Freaking threw a bottle of flammable fluid engulfed in flames at her.

We don’t know if he is morally without blame though. Did he help create a dangerous situation? Was he the one versed in the proper operation of these table top fires and became he was busy, he asked her to refill them? Did the instructions clearly say to make sure that it’s cooled down and he didn’t inform her? Etc...

I’m not saying he is to blame, but we don’t know the circumstances welk enough to know that he’s not.

 

[Garbage Goal]

We don’t know if he is morally without blame though. Did he help create a dangerous situation? Was he the one versed in the proper operation of these table top fires and became he was busy, he asked her to refill them? Did the instructions clearly say to make sure that it’s cooled down and he didn’t inform her? Etc...

I’m not saying he is to blame, but we don’t know the circumstances welk enough to know that he’s not.

We don’t, but based on the information provided he’s not. He could be if there’s something omitted, but based on the info available there’s only one person clearly at fault. Legally, it might not matter either way.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

We don’t, but based on the information provided he’s not. He could be if there’s something omitted, but based on the info available there’s only one person clearly at fault. Legally, it might not matter either way.

On the surface, I agree, but that is my point. The story is a summary of what happened, just touches the surface, so not much detail is provided. Rarely are all the gory details provided in a short news story and since none of us have all the details, we cannot accurately assess blame correctly.

I’m not saying he is also to blame, I’m simply saying we don’t fully know because we don’t know all the details.

I do agree with you that based solely on that one news article, he doesn’t seem to have any blame.

 

[Jugitsu]

Google the pictures, then imagine it happened to you. It doesn't seem enough honestly.

I've seen the pictures. Don't get me wrong, obviously she's entitled to some compensation for the trauma and the cosmetic 'problem'. But still, it's not like Ceci himself was the culprit nor was it intentional. It was accidental, while that doesn't remove liability it definitely is or at least should be a factor.

I'm all for compensating a victim based on the damage done, but I'm against the idea that you can get rich by something like that. That would never happen where I'm from, even if the guilty party is a billionaire.

edit:

The thing that baffles me even more is that her husband is also suing for 900k, her parents 700k and her siblings for 200k. Makes absolutely zero sense to me that this is even possible.

 

[joe dirte]

How much is she realistically going to get out of that 8 million? Obviously she deserves something for her trouble, but millions seem a little excessive, no? Though that's the NA style of things I suppose.

Thats the american way of doing things. Not north american. Canada is not litigous like the US at all.

 

[CartographerNo611]

I have 3rd degree burns from freak accident. Get that money lady, those scars and the memories of getting dead skin removed from a wire brush with no numbing agents, yeah, 8 million aint enough for that.

 

[Sol]

I imagine Ceci owns the home this happened at so it would fall under his homeowners policy which is why he needs to be included in the lawsuit.

Odds are Ceci himself nor his partner ever pay a dime in actual damages personally. It’ll all go under insurance.

Depends how much he's covered for

 

[bert]

Ceci has been a human tire fire for his entire life, so it’s hard to believe that this is really the first time he’s accidentally set somebody on fire.

(My condolences go out to Hana Engel and her family. I hope she is able to complete a full recovery.)

Wtf does this even mean. Insinuating he lights people on fire including his best friends fiance on purpose? You dont know Cody Ceci and i guarantee he has done more in his lifetime than someone who trolls people behind a fake persona. Posts like this make me hate the internet.

Its a terrible unfortunate situation for everyone involved. The money will come from his insurance company, I hope Hana gets all of it and more helping her lead a happy and normal life.

 

[Sol]

How much is she realistically going to get out of that 8 million? Obviously she deserves something for her trouble, but millions seem a little excessive, no? Though that's the NA style of things I suppose.

Less than half most of the time, maybe 3.

They always shoot higher than the moon and always settle less because most people are impatient.

Depends how long youre willing to go back and forth.

I'm sure they'd settle 3-4 tops.

Just for reference, I believe human is valued at 6 million. So I believe 3-4.

 

[Sasso09]

Thats the american way of doing things. Not north american. Canada is not litigous like the US at all.

Canada certainly is, maybe not to the same extent but far more so then European countries.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Sucks for all those involved.

I am figuring this has been life changing for all parties. Poor woman.

No wonder Ceci needed a change of scenery.

 

[Tuggy]

I can't imagine the pain. Being burned like that has to be one of the most painful things that can happen to you.

 

[Number8]

How much is she realistically going to get out of that 8 million? Obviously she deserves something for her trouble, but millions seem a little excessive, no? Though that's the NA style of things I suppose.

I get what you are saying. And generally I dislike the sue for injury thing. However this situation is not your typical “hey I slipped on your rug” bs.

One minute you’re sitting at an outdoor fire pit having a drink and next you are facing three weeks of medically induced coma, operations, skin grafts, and I assume a lot of scars?

All because one of the hosts didn’t know how to safely operate their fire pit and according to the article threw a flaming bottle of ethanol in your direction?

Sounds to me like $8M is not excessive. I do think that three weeks of medically induced coma is an excessive price to pay for accepting an invite to hang out though.