Plaintiff claims Apple was aware of defects

A new lawsuit accuses Apple of neglecting the safety of its MagSafe power adapters, according to AppleInsider. At the core of the dispute is a fire that hit a Connecticut family's home on May 23rd, 2008; the plaintiff cites the Glastonbury town fire marshal as tracing the incident back to the "external system components" of a MacBook Pro. The case is being pursued by an insurance firm, the Great Northern Insurance Company, which paid the fire victims over $75,000.

"Unbeknownst to [the client], in 2007 and 2008, Apple had received numerous complaints posted on its own Apple store website alerting Apple to heating, burning and sparking problems with its MagSafe adapters," the plaintiff writes in court documents. The filing specifically suggests that the MagSafe adapter was "in a defective and unreasonably dangerous condition," and that Apple "manufactured and sold the MagSafe adapter in a condition that it knew, or should have known, subjected the property of others to foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm." Notes mention that the MacBook Pro and its adapter were bought in August 2007, and that neither item was abused or misused.

Although the firm is requesting a jury trial, financially, Great Northern is asking only to be reimbursed for the cost of the insurance payout. The case is not the first to be filed in relation to MagSafe adapters; in 2009, a class action suit alleged that normal use of the adapters was deteriorating cables, triggering sparks or flames. More recently Apple sued HyperMac to stop the sale of recycled MagSafe adapters.

by MacNN Staff