Smartphone Explosions

Sacramento Personal Injury Attorney For Smartphone Product Defects

Have you recently flown on a plane and heard the flight attendants ask all Galaxy Note owners to notify the crew immediately? This is a result of an increase in smartphone accidents involving electric shocks, explosions and self-combusting devices. Samsung, the South Korean electronics company, announced its own product recall for the 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 devices in September of 2016 after at least 35 cases were reported globally. If you own a product that falls under the recall list, contact a Sacramento personal injury attorney immediately.

Samsung has done a thorough investigation of the issue and claims the problem is in the battery cell. Due to an undisclosed manufacturing defect, the lithium-ion battery cell can overheat when charging, leading to potential fire or explosions. However, many of the cases reported have not occurred while the phone is charging and in fact, have happened in either the victim’s pocket or hands. These types of incidents require the expertise of a personal injury attorney.

Examples Of Smart Phone Explosions – Cases Brought By Injury Attorneys

Jonathan Strobel, 28, of Boca Raton, Florida, sued Samsung the day after the recall for suffering severe burns after his Galaxy Note 7 smartphone exploded in his trouser’s front pocket. A 6-year-old boy in Brooklyn, New York, suffered injuries after a Galaxy Core Prime, also made by Samsung, exploded in his hands while watching videos.

While the number of Galaxy Note 7’s that are considered to be at risk is small – only 24 out of every 1 million phones – Galaxy Note 7’s are not the only phones that have had caused injuries. A number of other Samsung devices such as Galaxy S2, Galaxy S3 and Nexus S have had incidents of exploding batteries. In 2013, the battery, which wasn’t even inside the Samsung Galaxy Note, burst into flames in a 55-year-old man’s pants pocket.

It’s Not Just Samsung – Apple And Motorola Have Defective Products

Samsung’s number one rival – Apple, also had combusting phones. Crew on board a Regional Express plane heading to Sydney in November 2011 had to use a fire extinguisher on a passenger’s iPhone 4 which was emitting not only smoke but also a red glow. Less than a year before that, a cargo plane carrying tens of thousands of lithium batteries of “various designs” crashed into the desert outside of Dubai because the batteries, bundled together, burned up and filled the cockpit with smoke causing the Boeing 747-400F to crash, leaving no survivors. These types of incidents are devastating, especially since they are preventable. Contact an injury attorney who can evaluate your case.

Motorola, another telecommunications company based in the United States, also had reports of explosions when in December 2010, an owner of a Motorola Droid 2 claimed his phone exploded and cut his ears, giving him 4 stitches. If you or someone you know has suffered injuries from a smartphone explosion, contact an attorney immediately.

Unfortunately, more and more cases of smartphone-related injuries keep popping up and given the huge dependency nearly every consumer around the world has with these devices, it can be a frightening thought. Injuries arising from product defects are not a new phenomenon, we’ve seen this flare up with devices like ride-on hover boards or e-cigarettes, but as the products become more and more advanced, it’s important that all safety measures are taken seriously and if injuries do occur, contacting a lawyer is always the best idea.

The Expert You Need After A Product Defect Injury

At The Weinberger Law Firm, we represent clients throughout the Sacramento Valley and across Northern California in a wide variety of product defect injury claims.

If you or someone you know has been injured due to a smartphone defect, we can help get the compensation you deserve. Please call 916-304-0952 or send us an email to schedule an appointment.