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An Arizona mom is suing Samsung, saying the battery on her Samsung Galaxy S5 exploded, causing burns to herself and her 4-year-old son.
Plaintiff Dawn Torrez filed the complaint Monday in an Arizona federal court, alleging Samsung Electronics America, Samsung Electronics Co., Wireless Buybacks Holdings and Cell Works Unlimited violated multiple federal laws in the production and sale of the phone that caused her injuries. Torrez’s son is also named as a plaintiff on the lawsuit.
She says, on June 8, 2019, she had fallen asleep with her Samsung Galaxy S5, Model SM-G900P phone resting on her chest when, “suddenly and without warning, the Samsung Galaxy S5 battery spontaneously combusted and caught fire.”
She says the flaming phone caused burns to her chest, abdomen, and hand before falling to the ground.
Her son, just 4 years old at the time, was woken up by his mother’s screams and jumped out of bed, the lawsuit says. In a state of panic, he ran to his mom and stepped on the “still smoldering” phone, which was on the ground. As a result, the four-year-old sustained severe burn injuries to his foot, the lawsuit says.
Torrez says she was sold the phone in 2016 by Wireless Buybacks. She’s suing it and Samsung for strict products liability, negligence and breach of implied warranty, saying each of the defendants should have done its due diligence before putting a faulty phone on the market.
“The Subject Cell Phone was not reasonably fit, suitable, or safe to the ultimate operators or consumers for its intended or reasonably foreseeable purposes when manufactured, designed, tested, assembled, supplied, imported, distributed and/or sold by Defendants,” she alleges.
She says, as a direct result of the defendants’ negligence, she and her son sustained serious and permanent bodily injuries resulting in pain and suffering, permanent impairment, disability, mental anguish, inconvenience, loss of the enjoyment of life, expense of medical care and treatment, lost wages, and ability to earn wages.
She’s seeking general damages no less than $75,000 and special damages no less than $75,000, as well as lost earnings, property damages, interest and costs.
This is just the latest in a string of lawsuits filed against Samsung over allegations that the battery in various devices causes them to explode and burst into flames.
In 2017, Dale Holzworth claimed in a class action lawsuit that the lithium ion battery Samsung uses in its devices is defective and can cause overheating and explosions.
The infamous Samsung Note 7 mobile device was removed from the market for its exploding batteries, but other Samsung devices use the same battery and are subject to the same problems, Holzworth alleged.
More recently, consumers filed a class action lawsuit against Samsung, alleging it knowingly concealed a fault in its Galaxy S20 phone that causes the glass covering of its back camera to shatter with barely any impact.
Do you have a Samsung phone? Let us know your experiences with the product in the comments!
Torrez is represented by James N. MacKinlay of Warnock Mackinlay Law PLLC.
The Samsung Combusting Phone Battery Lawsuit is Torrez v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Case No. 2:21-cv-02247, in the U.S. District Court District of Arizona.
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28 thoughts onMom Sues Samsung Over Burns Caused by Exploding Cell Phone Battery
Had a phone they sent a private car for the phone still have all the pictures emails & no one would take my case my finger had 3 degree burns the wire is in beaded in my finger & off & on my finger nerves to that finget twitches no lawyer would help me even with piles of evidence.
My Samsung caught on fire while charging on the night stand next to my wife. It filled the bedroom with smoke as she tried to put it out. She knocked it off the nightstand and burned her hand a poured water on it and received injuries to her face from steam and hot water. It also burned the charger and burned a hole in our hardwood floor. I contacted Samsung and filed a claim about the incident and was told to send in the phone to them to be examined which I did they sent the phone back to me and I was told the claim was closed as far as they were concerned. The phone looked just like the one pictured in the court cases in court cases online. Samsung made comments they would take care of damages but that was an outright lie. They are aware of battery problems but could care less about injuries or damages to their customers. I sent pictures of the injuries and damages to floor to Samsung but they still didn’t care.
Soy de Puerto Rico el 1 de Septiembre 2022 compre un celular modelo Samsung s20 el cual desde q me lo entregaron lo sentí caliente al llegar a mi casa q son menos de 5 minutos de donde lo compré le digo a mi nietecito q me de el celular q lo deje en el counter a lo cual mi nieto me dice mamá esta caliente..cuando lo tomo en mis manos el celular se apago procedo a ponerlo a cargar en mi cuarto cuando a poco tiempo estoy en la cocina y escucho algo q exploto ..Cuando mi casa comenzó a salir humo cuando abrí la puerta de mi cuarto la mesita de noche donde estaba el celular se estaba incendiando …Causando asi un fuego q consumió mi casa 😪..Al día de Hoy la compañía w me lo vendió Liberty solo me vendió otro celular a sabiendas de todo lo q paso y encima mi factura llego más alta..Att se comunico conmigo y solo me ofrecieron la posibilidad de darme otro celular pero del mismo modelo 🤬..Deseo asesoría legal..ALGUIEN Q ME PUEDA AYUDAR
How does someone join the class action lawsuit regarding Samsung’s cell phones that catch on fire? Thanks!
Hi I had a galaxy on 5 that when I took the battery out it exploded causing me burns ony hand
Yeah I’m on my 2 nd Samsung revival 5G ea tike the phone gets super hot even now twitch the 2 nd which still isn’t no good ea tike I’ve had to go back to swap out get another phone still having same issues freezing up 5 mins it starts flipping screen volume goes down half way they always talking about trouble shooting phone just isn’t no good
Add me to Samsung. First cell phone purchased by children. Battery swallowed up bulging the phone, before kids came to check it out and told me to leave it off. They finally purchased the one I use now, which is being hacked in many areas.