An Ohio mother is suing Apple for gross negligence after her son’s iPod Touch exploded in his pocket, setting his pants on fire and melting through his underwear, leading to second-degree burns and severe emotional trauma.
iPod Touch owners, be sure you’ve got a fire extinguisher handy at all times when you’ve got your hardware in your pocket. You never know when it might explode. A boy in Cincinnati, Ohio, learned that the hard way recently, when his iPod suddenly blew up in his pocket. According to the complaint his mom filed, upon feeling a burning sensation, the poor kid “immediately ran to the bathroom and took off his burning pants with the assistance of a friend,” whereupon he found that the fire had spread and burned through his pocket and “melted through his nylon/spandex underwear, burning his leg.”
Immediately afterward, the kid was taken to the doctor, where his burns were classified as second degree.
“He continues to suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life,” the lawsuit reads. Normally I would scoff at these kinds of claims, but you gotta figure the next day at school all the other kids were calling him all sorts of horrible stuff. And what of the friend who had to take his pants off? There’s gotta be some psychological fallout there – that friendship’s never going to be the same.
The mom is suing Apple and the employees of the Apple Store where they bought the iPod for gross negligence and recklessness, claiming that they should have warned them about the possibility of the iPod exploding and melting underwear. They’re asking for at least $75,000 in compensation plus another 75 grand for punitive damages and fees.
[Via Ars Technica]
Published: Mar 14, 2009 01:40 am