Apple Sued over Exploding iPod Touch

[grieve]

I can’t believe they are suing the Clerks… Poor guys/girls make minimum wage, are most likely under 20yrs old and are working there to save for an Ipod. I just don’t see how in any way they are responsible. Now they have to pay out lawyer fees… I tell ya, no one is safe anymore.

I understand suing apple if the boy didn’t Mod the unit. I also think apple would happily pay him out to avoid the bad press. Also I think $200,000 is an insane amount of money for a second degree burn!! 5k, a box of Kleenex and a new Ipod seems fair to me. Guys who lose limbs @ war don’t get $200,000.

 

[geminireaper]

[citation][nom]UsernameemanresU[/nom]Wow, way to make an analogy there genius. An apple pie is supposed to be hot, and even if the person didn't know that, still when they do get it on their table they'd know it by touching it. But if with all of that the person still got burnt it's his/her fault, and not that of McDonald's. How the heck can you compare that with a poor kid nearly getting his nuts roasted like that? You say that as if exploding pocket devices are as regular as hot apple pies (here's a hint schlomoe; they don't). It's sad to see a consumer oriented tech site felate a big company rather then looking out for the consumers. And why is this douche Parrish still writing for Tom's anyway?[/citation]

So his analogy is a bit off. And Apple should be held liable. The problem is this whole sue happy culture. Apple should take care of a new itouch, pay his doctor bills and maybe a little bit on the side for his troubles. Asking 225k for this is way overboard. Just someone looking for a pay day. He has second degree burns for christs sake. You can get that from a bad sunburn.

 

[lamorpa]

Keven Parrish:

Do a better job writing. Here are some corrections:

"Is it an iPod Touch, or an iBomb? Apple is now facing a lawsuit [XregardingX] alledging a boy's iPod Touch exploding in his pants. [XIs he sure that was Apple's device?X]

It's probably only natural that a caption reading "ipod Touch explodes in boy's pants" generates a whole slew of jokes, and a few will probably even pop up here in the comments section below. And while initially they'll be funny, there's nothing really funny about a 15-year-old teenage boy [alledgly] receiving second-degree burns [Xbecause of a faulty Apple productX]. [xYet that's what happened: - no it did not necessarily happen; it is alledged x] a 16 GB Apple iPod Touch supposedly exploded and caught fire while in the boy's pocket, thus burning his leg. It certainly gives the slogan "burning a hole in your pocket" a whole new meaning.

...

 

[Guest]

I want to find this kid, laugh in his face and cause him more emotional distress, then he can sue me his classmates and every other sane person in this world that thinks a lawsuit like this is ridiculous. Sueing them for the doctor bills and cost of the unit sure, but to go this far shows they just want to bleed the system for a little free money. Disgusting.

 

[Guest]

75,000 for lawyers fees and "special damages" (this would be beyond the compensatory and punititve damages!).... and this is what is wrong with America and the legal system, why the lawyers union is untouchable and catered to by politicians (money) and why medical costs are as high as they are (malpractice insurance).

There is a simple fix for this crap... if a judge deems a lawsuit to be frivolous and without merit, then the plaintiff should be required to pay TRIPLE the defense cost to the defendents. This will quickly weed out all these ambulance chasers looking for the next lottery ticket, and will encourage defendents to defend themselves against some of the more frivolous claims (not sure if this case is one... but I doubt the plaintiffs have really investigated the cause of the failure BEFORE they filed the suit)

This case smacks of the "hopefully [insert company here] will want to settle out of court quickly to avoid continued bad press and the legal fees they will incur" legal(? )strategy. Even if this case is proven to be frivolous, Apple still loses between the press and the legal fees they will have to pay. When it becomes more expedient to pay off a frivolous suit then to defend yourself, the system is broken.

 

[hillarymakesmecry]

"Nylon/Spandex underwear"

Where do you even buy that stuff?

 

[falconqc]

I think most of you guys are missing the point. Either the kid modded the thing and it fried as a result, or Apple is mass producing yet another highly defective product. If you don't hold companies responsible for the products they market, then they will just keep rolling out defective and dangerous products just so they can bolster their profits.

The McDonald pies and coffee examples are flawed. Pies and coffee is supposed to be hot, and anyone with an IQ above 20 can figure out that hot will burn. Unless your iPod Touch is supposed to be able to boil water when turned OFF, then your examples are worthless.

Apple needs to get sued over this and I hope they lose big. I seem to be living in some kind of strange world where nobody seems to recognize that Apple products are defective and plagued by serious design flaws, all in the name of style.

Who cares if the device caught fire and burned the kid, at least he looked hip and cool while he was rolling on the floor, right?

That being said, suing the employees is stupid. They are just local people, they had nothing to do with the bad design of the device.

 

[s2000gt4]

Seriously, sounds like an ID Ten T problem, most people have this type of problem with electronics, it's becoming alot more common.

 

[Guest]

emotional distress i can understand that.you guys remember school right...you think our jokes are bad..what do you think this guy hears at school.one day hes the cool kid with a 16gig ipod touch the next hes the kid with nothing but a burnt leg and spandex jokes on every news feed on the net....