14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is being sued by a New Jersey apartment complex and its affiliated insurance firm after an iPad allegedly caught fire into a kitchen and killed a tenant.
The incident took place in February 2017 when Bradley Ireland was killed due to what was believed to be a lethal fire started by an iPad. Julia Ireland Meo, the victim’s wife, has already sued Apple earlier this year, claiming the fire was “caused by a defect in the subject tablet, specifically affecting the subject tablet’s battery pack.”
Now Union Management and insurance firm Greater New York Mutual Insurance Company sue Apple with similar claims. The two say the Cupertino-based tech giant released a product that “was unreasonably dangerous and unsafe for its intended purpose by reasons of detects in its design and/or its manufacture and/or a lack of adequate warnings,” as per the lawsuit documents.
Apple knew or should have known about the risks
The two companies now want Apple to pay for all the damages caused by the fire, as they believe that the iPhone maker “knew or should have known of the dangerous propensities of lithium batteries and their use in electronic devices such as the subject tablet.”
In other words, Apple should now refund all the expenses of the insurance company and the damages that the apartment complex had to cover following the fire.
“Plaintiff demands damages for all monies paid by Greater New York Mutual Insurance to Union Management, for which it became subrogated to the rights of Union Management against Apple, inclusive of the deductible under the policy of insurance, together with interest, attorney’s fees, and costs of suit,” the lawsuit reads.
As it typically happens when Apple is sued, the company didn’t say a single word regarding the accusations, so it remains to be seen if we ever hear anything else about this legal dispute or not.