US woman burned by exploding e-cigarette battery awarded US$1.9 million

Jennifer Ries and her husband were travelling to the Los Angeles airport for an international trip when she decided she should charge her e-cigarette battery.

After plugging the device into the car’s charger, liquid started dripping from the battery, she said. The car filled with a smell like nail polish remover. Then, with a loud bang, the battery exploded.

Flames shot out, catching Ries’ dress and seat on fire. Chemicals spewed onto her lap, leaving her with severe burns. Panicked and aflame, she tried to jump out of the moving car, but her husband pulled her back and poured iced coffee on her to douse the fire.

Ries said she sustained second-degree burns on her legs, buttocks and hand in the March 2013 accident. She still has physical and emotional scars, she said.

On Wednesday, a Riverside County Superior Court jury awarded her nearly US$1.9 million in a lawsuit she brought against the electronic cigarette’s distributor, VapCigs; its wholesaler, Cartons 2 Go; and the store where she bought it, Tobacco Expo.

Her product liability lawsuit alleged that the businesses in the supply chain were “involved in the distribution of a product that failed to conform to any kind of reasonable safety expectation - battery chargers should not explode - and failed to warn about known dangers.”