Alabama family sues for house fire caused by hoverboard

Hoverboards have been making the news often this winter. The devices began making headlines for their extraordinary popularity, topping lists of the most popular Christmas gifts, despite a hefty $400-800 price tag. Now that Christmas gifts have been opened, hoverboards are in the news for the risks of injury and of bursting into flame that the devices pose to owners. In fact, at least two lawsuits have been filed, one in federal court and one in Alabama state court, for damage done by hoverboards.

The battery-powered, motorized devices are technically not hoverboards, but are rather self-balancing two-wheeled scooters. Riders use the footpads on the device and shifts in bodyweight to propel the boards forward, backward, and to make turns. One of the major concerns about the devices is their propensity to catch fire while charging, and the lax standards applying to their manufacture. Due to the newness on the market of the devices, there is not yet a set of safety standards which applies to hoverboards. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported that they have received complaints of 22 fires that hoverboards have started in peoples’ homes, and have begun to conduct independent tests of the devices to determine their safety. The British equivalent of the CPSC recalled all hoverboards for sale in the UK after receiving hundreds of complaints of fires being started, largely while the hoverboards were charging.

One Alabama family filed a lawsuit for damages after a hoverboard the couple had purchased at a mall kiosk caught fire. A New York man filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on behalf of those who purchased hoverboards from manufacturer Swagway after a hoverboard he’d purchased for his child caught fire and damaged his home. Over 60 airlines have announced that passengers may not bring hoverboards onto their planes, due to the chance that they will explode or catch fire in transit.

If you’ve been injured by a defective hoverboard or other defectively-made product in Alabama, ensure that you’re fully compensated for your injuries by contacting Mobile personal injury attorney J. Allan Brown for a consultation on your claims, at 251-473-6691.