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Apple Sued By State Farm Over Alleged iPhone Fire (cnet.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the unlike-a-good-neighbor dept.

An anonymous reader quotes CNET: Insurer State Farm and one of its customers, Wisconsin resident Xai Thao, allege that one of Apple's older iPhones had a defective battery that led to a fire last year. A lawsuit filed on Thursday by both State Farm and Thao claims that her iPhone 4S "failed" and "started a fire at Thao's home." The lawsuit further claims that "preliminary investigations show evidence of a significant and localized heating event in the battery area of the iPhone." It also declares that there were "remnants of internal shorting, indicating that an internal failure of the iPhone's battery caused the fire"... The State Farm lawsuit says that Thao's iPhone was "in a defective and unreasonably dangerous condition" when she bought it in 2014. The suit is claiming in excess of $75,000 in damages.

4 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. Discontinued in Sep 2013. by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Informative

    She bought the phone at least 4 months after it was discontinued (Sept 2013 per Wiki).

    Who did she buy the phone from?

    Who made the battery in it when it burned?

    WTF happened to /.? We all hate Apple and all, but this? Really? Kick the lawyer in the balls until he pukes.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    1. Re:Discontinued in Sep 2013. by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Interesting

      She bought the phone at least 4 months after it was discontinued (Sept 2013 per Wiki).

      No, the iPhone 4s was discontinued in September of 2014 in the United States, and was still sold in some countries as late as 2016.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  2. Not a surprise by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Any manufacturer of devices with Lithium Ion batteries runs a risk of an occasional failure sparking a fire. Its not negligence, they implement all kinds of quality controls and features to prevent fires, but they are going to happen. Might be best for Apple to just pay up and not make much noise about it, as it is a rare event overall.

  3. Obviously, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    She was holding it wrong.