New Lawsuit..

[maccafan]

www.courthousenews.com/2012/04/17/45679.htm

DENVER (CN) - A man was hospitalized for eight days after an electronic cigarette exploded in his face, sending "burning debris and battery acid into his mouth, face, and eyes," the e-smoker claims in Federal Court.

Phillip Hahn sued Pure Enterprises dba Puresmoker.com and Ignition L.P., on a variety of charges, and his wife sued for loss of consortium.

Hahn says he "purchased a Prodigy V3.1 electronic cigarette device from Pure Enterprises' online store, at the website address of puresmoker.com."

After buying the proper batteries from a (nonparty) RadioShack the next day, "Phillip Hahn was using the Prodigy energized by the Enercell batteries at his residence when the Enercell batteries inside the Prodigy suddenly and unexpectedly exploded," the complaint states.

"The explosion sent burning debris and battery acid into Phillip Hahn's mouth, face, and eyes, and as a result, Phillip Hahn sustained catastrophic injuries.

"At all times relevant hereto, Theresa Hahn was in the zone of danger and contemporaneously observed the incident and Phillip Hahn's injuries and immediately called 911.

"Phillip Hahn was transported by ambulance to Northern Colorado Medical Center where he remained for eight (8) days."

The Hahns claim the defendants made numerous false claims about their product, including "'USA-Made High Quality,' ... and 'thousands of hours of research, design and testing have resulted in the high-caliber devices you see here today.'"

They seek damages for product liability, defective design and manufacture, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, failure to warn, and other charges.

They are represented by Arron Nesbitt with Taylor Anderson.

[jerryrm]

The question here is, did he use protected batteries. He is suing the maker of the mod, but it appears to me that it's the batteries that are at fault.

[maccafan]

Protected batteries will not do that..They'll just shut down and die..

Reports are he was using 2 x CR123a Enercell from Radioshack which ain't protected..

The problem is the PS Prodigy V 3.1 user manual does not specifically warn against stacking unprotected batteries giving rise to this and the general public and even many battery sellers are unaware of the difference between CR123a (unprotected) & RCR123a (protected).

[Gordy]

it could be that the Prodigy didnt have a vent hole and hence exploded when the batteries went thermal due to the build up of gas... i notice they have a big vent hole on the side of their new prodigy's

[alvoram]

The 3.1 is their new version

Looks like he must have been using these... www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3875398

I can't find any 18650's or the 17670's at Radio shack...

[hifistud]

Apr 17, 2012 16:07:25 GMT maccafan said:

Protected batteries will not do that..They'll just shut down and die..

Reports are he was using 2 x CR123a Enercell from Radioshack which ain't protected..

that's because the CR123a is a primary cell, not a rechargeable - and that's not the "proper battery" as quoted in the court doc. Unfortunately, too many vendors aren't aware that "CR123a" refers to primary cells and "RCR123a" to rechargeable. You'd think the "R" might give it away...

The problem is the PS Prodigy V 3.1 user manual does not specifically warn against stacking unprotected batteries giving rise to this and the general public and even many battery sellers are unaware of the difference between CR123a (unprotected) & RCR123a (protected).

[hifistud]

For completeness, here's the actual lawsuit: www.courthousenews.com/2012/04/17/ElectricSmoke.pdf

[maccafan]

Oh dear!! Another one and this time it's a look alike:

www.fox23.com/mostpopular/story/Electronic-cigarette-explodes-in-Muskogee-womans/ek2x6P6rvkyLu5cMrvGwVQ.cspx

[Queenie Bee]

Conspiracy I think the government is behind it ! Lol

[maccafan]

Apr 20, 2012 17:30:47 GMT Queenie Bee said:

Conspiracy I think the government is behind it ! Lol

More likely her greed is behind it...

Her story makes no sense whatsoever..

[jerryrm]

No, it doesn't make any sense, but lawsuits are popular over here. Don't be surprised, if you see more of them for nonsensical reasons.

[Perpetua]

Apr 20, 2012 17:25:08 GMT maccafan said:

Oh dear!! Another one and this time it's a look alike:

www.fox23.com/mostpopular/story/Electronic-cigarette-explodes-in-Muskogee-womans/ek2x6P6rvkyLu5cMrvGwVQ.cspx

America is the capital for compensation claims, so I doubt it will be the last claim of this nature that we see.

This person may well have had an ecig ' incident ' . . . I'd be amazed if it hadn't been bigged up or sensationalized though.

[warlordxxx - (Mark)]

Hmm it's affected my hearing and my eye but i'll go to the news and go to the doctors tomorrow instead - WTH

[alvoram]

Just been reading that the story is a complete fake, there was no explosion at all, apparently.

www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/media-general-news/289020-exploding-njoy-5.html

[Bluefish]

If it's in the news it's a lie I blame murdoch.