Your phone dies. You’re working from home and can’t dial into that conference call at 1pm. You’re late for work because your alarm didn’t go off. You’re lost because you no longer have maps to direct you.
If our phone battery dies, we’re desperately searching for a charger. We are glued to our cellphones, and if near an outlet, have our smartphone plugged into a charger constantly. In fact, the global market for battery powered products, including portable chargers, is projected to be over 865 billion dollars by 2020.
But what if simply charging your phone could result in a serious injury?
In October of 2016, due to a push from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Samsung released a second recall of the popular Galaxy Note 7 phone model, and stopped selling the model all together due to over 35 reports of fires when charging the devices. Today, USA Today reported that Samsung has now revealed the reason for the fires, and after testing, concluded that the lithium-ion battery was the root cause. The fires have cost Samsung over 5 million dollars. Samsung is now implementing numerous testing procedures for their phones to prevent any fires occurring in the future.
Tabor Law Firm urges smartphone users to still be cautious to not overheat your phones, and to be cautious of any electrical fire that could easily result in a serious injury. If in the unfortunate event that an injury occurs from a fire, the lawyers at Tabor Law have decades of experience handling fire related injuries. If you need us, call us. The initial consultation is free.
