VapCigs Hot Mod Courts Jackpot Award
Ecig accidents take on a new light as Californian is awarded punitive damages following an accident.
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by Dave Cross
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Jennifer Ries claimed that she had suffered second-degree burns as a result of a charging electronic cigarette exploding in her car. The court felt she was telling the truth when she said that she “plugged in her VapCigs e-cigarette charger and it spewed hot metal that ignited her dress.”
Not even a flying cup of ice-cold Frappuccino from her husband could dampen the flames that caused scarring to her hand, thighs and buttocks. Fears that this could trigger a slew of similar cases as the award incentivises a claim culture looking for a new payout source combined with stories of conspiracy theories.
But this doesn’t get around the fact that there is something patently wrong with the budget-priced cigalike devices coming from China – fears that have fed into the formation of the impending Tobacco Products Directive. Plus, everytime one does happen you can be assured that there will be more headlines like “These aren't harmless, little combustions, but rather they're car-charring, child-burning, body-scarring blasts”.
Ries’ lawyer, Gregory Bentley said: “If you're going to place a product in the marketplace, you have to make sure it's safe for the consumer.” The problem facing the ecig industry in the UK is quite how the importation of cheap, inferior Chinese products can be curtailed? “This industry is unregulated and remains ripe for disaster. Sadly, the industry's carelessness struck Jennifer and changed her life forever. We are thankful for the jury's verdict and hope it will jolt the industry to take steps to ensure and test that these products are safe for consumers before they are placed on the market,” he added.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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