United States woman burned by exploding e-cigarette

A former Corona woman won a $1.885 million jury verdict over an exploding e-cigarette battery that she says left her with lasting physical and mental scars.

“This industry is unregulated and remains ripe for disaster”, the attorney for Ries, Gregory L. Bentley of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP, said in a statement.

The product liability and negligence case ended Wednesday, September 30, in Riverside Superior Court, on-line court records show. “Sadly, the industry’s carelessness struck Jennifer and changed her life forever”.

According to Ries, the incident occurred in March 2013 when she was heading to the airport with her husband Xavier Ries, AP reported.

“If you’re going to place a product in the marketplace, you have to make sure it’s safe for the consumer”, Bentley said, according to The worldwide Business Times.

Shortly after plugging in her electronic cigarette battery, it blew up, igniting a small fire that quickly spread to her dress, according to the plaintiffs.

Xavier immediately threw an iced coffee on her in an attempt to extinguish the flames, but she was permanently scarred after suffering second-degree burns on her buttocks, thighs and hand, her lawsuit states.

Ms. Ries’s husband then took her to a nearby urgent care, where her wounds were dressed. The couple also missed their flight to Brazil, where they planned to help start a community center for children in Rio de Janeiro’s slums. The device is considered an alternative to tobacco cigarettes, providing users a sensation of smoking with “inhaled doses of nicotine” from a vaporized solution.