Exploding E-Cigarettes Causing Serious Injuries to Smokers

Recent consumer complaints about exploding electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have prompted people allegedly injured while "vaping" to file lawsuits after suffering burns when the devices blew up in their faces or exploded inside clothing.

E-cigarettes are handheld devices powered by lithium-ion batteries that vaporize a flavored liquid usually containing nicotine and other ingredients into an aerosol inhaled into the lungs. E-cigarettes are often marketed as a safer alternative for smokers of traditional tobacco cigarettes. However, consumers have reported numerous e-cigarette products as being allegedly defective or dangerous.

Attorneys are now investigating possible lawsuits by people claiming injuries caused by defective and exploding e-cigarettes.
  Twenty-five separate incidents of explosion and fire involving an e-cigarette were reported in the US media between 2009 and August 2014, according to a 2014 report by issued by the US Fire Administration. The shape and construction of e-cigarettes can make them more likely than other products with lithium-ion batteries to behave like "flaming rockets" when a battery fails, according to the same report.

In 2014, 12.6 percent of US adults had tried an e-cigarette and roughly 3.7 percent of adults used e-cigarettes daily or on some days, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

During 2011-2015, e-cigarette use rose from 1.5 percent to 16.0 percent among high school students and from 0.6 percent to 5.3 percent among middle school students. By 2015, more than 3 million middle and high school students were current users of e-cigarettes, according to FDA statistics.

The FDA in 2016 extended its regulatory authority over all tobacco products to include electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes), vaporizers, vape pens, hookah pens, e-pipes and all other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). FDA regulation includes components of ENDS but excludes accessories.
  The Wall Street Journal reported in 2016 that users of exploding e-cigarettes have filed dozens of lawsuits in New York, Florida and California as well as in other states.

Two Florida men filed lawsuits in 2016 against several e-cigarette makers and retailers, claiming that the ENDS devices exploded and injured them in separate incidents. The plaintiff in one lawsuit, James Dardinia, suffered second and third degree burns when a vaporizer allegedly exploded without warning in his front right pocket, caught fire and engulfed his leg in flames.

In the other Florida lawsuit, James Lauria alleged that an e-cigarette vaporizer exploded in his mouth while he was vaping. The explosion allegedly punctured the palette in Lauria's mouth and left a "gaping hole all the way through to his nasal cavity," jamming teeth through his gum, fracturing teeth and burning his hand, according the complaint.

The explosion also allegedly broke Lauria's hand and C-5 vertebrae, burned his face and chest area and scratched his left eye from flying debris, according to the lawsuit.

In September 2015, a Riverside County Superior Court jury awarded Jennifer Ries, who was badly burned when a charging e-cigarette battery caught fire in her car, nearly $1.9 million after she sued the distributor, wholesaler and store where she bought the exploding vaping devices, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The US Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing the safety of e-cigarettes.
 

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Last updated on Nov-26-19