TL;DR
- A woman has been awarded the equivalent of $200,000 after her phone caused a house fire while charging.
- The court ruled the LG K8 was defective and failed to meet safety expectations.
- Most of the payout will go to her insurer, but she also received compensation for injuries.
We’ve heard multiple reports of the Google Pixel 6a melting down over recent months, but nothing as nightmarish as this. For one woman, her plugged-in Android phone caused a house fire, eventually leading to a six-figure payout from the manufacturer.
As reported by the BBC, a judge at Edinburgh Sheriff Court has ruled that an LG K8 smartphone caused a fire while charging, awarding £150,000 ($200,000) in damages. The majority of that will go to the woman’s insurer, but she was also compensated for smoke inhalation and the mental health impact.
The fire began in the living room on October 31, 2018, while the LG phone was charging with the correct equipment. A second phone and a laptop were also plugged in nearby, but the judge concluded that the LG was the source. He found it failed to meet basic safety expectations and was defective.
Denise Parks and her husband were asleep upstairs when the fire started. She was later treated for smoke inhalation and experienced heightened anxiety and panic attacks, leaving her unable to work for several months.
The phone had been issued by her employer, and the lawsuit was filed against LG Electronics UK Ltd. While the incident happened back in 2018, the ruling and payout have only just been finalized. LG shut down its phone division in 2021.
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