What if the pilot had his lunch tray in his lap? FA leans over, perhaps to give him a cup of coffee, and leans on the possibly broken cover of the seat switch? Could the tray get pinched between the pilot and the controls? It might take a bit to extricate the tray if it got jammed in there.
A couple further questions. Could spilled liquid short out either of the seat switches and cause a malfunction? And if a dinner tray was shoved into the controls, is there anything it could possibly hit which would cause the panel to go dark?