Apple sued over fondleslab death blaze: iPad battery blamed for deadly New Jersey apartment fire

Apple is being sued Stateside over allegations that a faulty iPad battery caused a fire which resulted in a New Jersey man's death.

The case is being brought by an insurance company that is acting on behalf of the property management business responsible for the man's residence. Bradley Ireland was living in an apartment block in NJ when, on 22 February 2017, a fire in his apartment caused his death.

The complaint (PDF), filed late last week, alleges that Ireland's Apple iPad caused the blaze and claims it "was unreasonably dangerous and unsafe for its intended purpose by reason of defects in its design and/or its manufacture".

The second count of the lawsuit accuses Apple of "ultrahazardous responsibility", claiming the lithium batteries in the iPads "were inherently dangerous and were capable of igniting and causing a fire, even if properly in use within the tablet."

Documents filed with the court allege "the said lithium batteries are ultrahazardous, capable of igniting spontaneously, and are dangerous instrumentalities."

The plaintiff asked for a jury trial and – we cannot resist mentioning – the filing attorney seems to be receiving correspondence via an AOL email address.

Apple last week announced a recall of some of its older 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops because of concerns that their batteries may overheat.

Over the years, a bunch of PC makers – including HP, Toshiba and Panasonic – have had to recall laptops because of lithium battery problems, some mobile phones have also had to be returned to base.

In March last year, Amazon was forced to recall over quarter of a million lithium-ion power packs.

Bradley Ireland's surviving family separately filed a wrongful death claim (PDF) against Apple in February this year. ®