According to a report by Reuters, Jonathan Strobel of Florida sued Samsung Electronics after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in his front pants pocket exploded and caused “severe burns” on his leg.
After 1 million Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices were recalled by Samsung in one of the largest smartphone recalls in recent history, Reuters says that the Strobel case could be the first of its kind involving the new smartphone from Samsung’s Galaxy family of mobile devices.
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About two weeks ago, we reported (link above) that several Note 7s had overheated because of the battery, and a few even caught fire or exploded. Samsung immediately announced a recall of all Note 7 phones sold in the U.S. Last week the company announced a temporary fix for the problem, which involves an over-the-air software update that would limit battery charge to 60%.
The incident with Strobel happened on September 9, two days after the iPhone 7 was launched by Apple and several weeks after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was made available in stores. Boca Raton resident Strobel says he was at a Costco warehouse in Palm Beach Gardens when the incident happened, and that he received severe burns on this right leg and also his left thumb as he tried to remove the searing phone from pocket.
According to Keith Pierro, Strobel’s lawyer, “He has a deep second-degree burn, roughly the size of the phone, on his right thigh. Unfortunately for my client the recall came too late.”
Samsung later released this email statement via its spokeswoman Danielle Meister Cohen: “We are urging all Note 7 owners to power their device down and exchange it immediately.” The email also noted that “We don’t comment on pending litigation.”
The case has been registered in a Palm Beach County, Florida state court, and the lawsuit sees redressal in the form of “unspecified damages for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other alleged injuries.”
If the court rules against Samsung in this case, it could set a precedent for other people who have suffered burns or damaged property because of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7’s battery problem. Although Samsung initiated the recall on its own, U.S. safety regulators have made it official as of last week.
This is a harsh blow for Samsung, which has over 2.5 million devices with this problem around the world. Samsung is in a fierce battle with Apple for the high-end smartphone market in the United States and other key markets, and this incident is a major setback not only in monetary and market share terms, but it is also a PR nightmare for the South Korean electronics giant. One source says that South Korean analysts estimate that iPhone 7 sales across the world could touch 100 million by the end of the year as a direct result of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 mega-fail.
The fiscal impact has yet to be assessed and published by Samsung, but considering the fact that the company is offering a replacement or a full refund on the $850 smartphone, it could run up as much as $2 billion – not a small amount even for a company that made more than $179 billion (KRW 200 trillion) in sales in 2015.
But the negative PR will be far more impactful, as buyers of Samsung phones will now be actively looking for issues before they buy a smartphone from the company. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is now rumored to release earlier than planned because of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle. That’s understandable, as the company will want to smooth over users’ ruffled feathers as quickly as possible with the next premium smartphone model.
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