A Florida man has filed what is believed to be the 1st lawsuit to outcome from a battery defect affecting Samsung Note7 smartphones.
Jonathan Strobel, a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida, alleges in the suit that his Note7 was in his suitable pocket on Sept. 9 when it exploded, causing “serious burns” to his leg, leaving him “in shock and extreme pain due to his injuries.”
A Samsung representative told ABC News that the enterprise is aware of the incident but that it does not “comment on pending litigation.”
Amongst other allegations, the suit says that the Note7 smartphone “was not reasonably match, appropriate or secure to the ultimate operators or buyers for its intended or reasonably foreseeable purposes when manufactured” and that Samsung “knew or in the exercise of due care ought to have recognized that the Galaxy Note7 cellphone … would produce a foreseeable danger of harm to users.”
The suit seeks damages in excess of $15,000.
On Thursday the Consumer Item Security Commission (CPSC) announced a government-sanctioned recall of the Note7, immediately after many reports that the battery defect brought on the smartphones to explode and in some situations spark fires.
“Samsung has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the U.S., such as 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of home damage, including fires in automobiles and a garage,” according to the CPSC.
Nearly a million Note7 smartphones were sold in the United States, according to the CPSC. The recall applies only to Samsung Galaxy Note7 phones sold prior to Sept. 15, 2016.
The CPSC estimates that 97 percent of those devices contained the defective battery.
Buyers are being told to straight away discontinue utilizing the devices and return them to their spot of obtain. Owners will receive their option of a refund, a new Galaxy Note7 with a unique battery or a distinct model as a replacement.
The organization stated it expects replacement Note7 smartphones with defect-free of charge batteries to be obtainable to shoppers no later than Wednesday.
The enterprise is directing owners of affected Note7 smartphones to stop by this webpage to learn more about their choices.
“With battery cell defects in some of our Note7 phones, we did not meet the regular of excellence that you expect and deserve,” Samsung Electronics America President and COO Tim Baxter mentioned in a video statement soon after the government-sanctioned recall was announced. “We apologize, especially to these of you who were personally impacted by this.”
He stated that roughly 130,000 Note7s have already been exchanged in the U.S.
The official recall followed almost two weeks of confusion for shoppers, beginning Sept. 2 with Samsung’s try to establish an informal recall, dubbed a “solution exchange program,” in which the firm promised to replace buyers’ defective devices the next week.
A week following that, the organization acknowledged that it was in search of a government-sanctioned recall via the CPSC. It was announced Sept. 15.
ABC News’ Daniel Steinberger contributed to this report from Washington.
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