Mom Sues Samsung Over Burns Caused by Exploding Cell Phone Battery

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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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