Samsung may have issued an official Galaxy Note 7, but it appears as if the announcement came too late for Florida resident Jonathan Strobel, whose phone reportedly exploded in his pocket, reports Reuters.
According to Strobel, he was in Costco on September 9 when he felt his phablet warm up considerably in his pocket and then explode. Strobel’s attorney later asserted that the explosion left Strobel with a second-degree burn on his right thigh, as well as a severe burn on his left thumb, which he sustained when he tried to remove his Galaxy Note 7 from his pocket.
The lawsuit, which was filed in a Florida state court in Palm Beach County, seeks unspecified damages that will cover lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering, and other reported damages. For its part, Samsung did not comment on the pending litigation.
“We are urging all Note 7 owners to power their device down and exchange it immediately,” said Samsung spokesperson Danielle Meister Cohen.
The lawsuit is noteworthy for several reasons, the largest of which being it looks to be the first related to the Galaxy Note 7 and its faulty battery. Furthermore, Strobel’s Galaxy Note 7 allegedly exploded almost a week before Samsung officially recalled the phablet, though the company did issue a voluntary recall exactly one week before the incident allegedly took place. Finally, the event looks to be another addition to the running tally of Galaxy Note 7 incidents in the U.S., which include 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage.
Strobel’s lawsuit coincides with a recent lawsuit over a different Samsung phone – the Galaxy S7 Edge. This action was brought by Daniel Ramirez, who sustained serious burns and permanent scars over several areas of his body allegedly due to his phone exploding in his hand after he removed it from his pocket. The burn injuries caused Ramirez to require “significant” skin graft surgery and “extensive” physical therapy.
