Vape Battery Explosion Lawsuits on the Rise

"Fortunately some of the plaintiff attorneys recognize that you can't get blood out of a stone," Conley said. "[They've] settled for amounts that are not going to kill the businesses."

He said that in one piece of litigation, it turned out that the plaintiff couldn't remember where the e-cigarette product at issue was purchased, so a lawyer "just picked out a random vape shop" to name as a defendant.

As Conley points out, lithium batteries have had a history of safety issues not limited to the vaping industry.

Multiple reports of battery failures in Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 prompted a  recall  which cost Samsung an estimated $3  billion. Going farther back, computer maker Dell recalled millions of laptop lithium batteries in 2006 over safety concerns, then one of the largest product recalls of its kind.

The U.S. Fire Administration nonetheless sees a unique hazard in e-cigarette battery failures. It describes severe injuries caused by e-cig fires as "uncommon," but notes that "no other consumer product places a battery with a known explosion hazard  such as this in such close proximity to the human body."

"It is this intimate contact between  the body and the battery that is most responsible for the severity of the injuries that have been seen," the Administration wrote in a July report.

The Fire Administration said that in a typical e-cig battery failure, flammable electrolytes in the lithium battery overheat, causing pressure to build until the seal at the end of the battery bursts apart. Components can be propelled across the  room "like a bullet or small rocket," the USFA stated.

The administration concluded in its report that the current generation of lithium batteries is "not a safe source of energy for these devices," and recommended that manufacturers seek alternate power sources. It acknowledged that "there are no regulatory standards directly applicable to e-cigarettes," and that decisions about battery safety measures were left to manufacturers.

Conley said that a viable power-source alternative to lithium batteries  for vaping devices may be a long way away.

"There's a lot of hope," he said. "There's a lot of theoretical designs out there."

Technological advancements have been made in terms of devices that will shut down if they are overpowered, Conley said, "but you still have some old devices out on the market from before that technology really came around."

Though irresponsible rebuilding and mismatching of "mods" appear to have played a role in some fires, the practice of making vaporizer products customizable will likely remain prevalent, Conley said.

"It's a fine line to walk because the modifiability of devices and the ability to design your own vaping experience is part of what attracts people to the products. ... When done properly, it's safe," he said.

He claims he's optimistic that the number of incidents and injury claims will decrease due to better consumer education on battery safety, as well as a move towards products with enclosed batteries.

"The increase in news stories about battery problems has certainly fueled an interest at the vape-shop level in educating consumers about battery risk," Conley said. "I think there was an assumption on the part of some vape shop owners ... that it's common sense not to keep a battery in your pocket with change, that it's common sense not to use your battery if the wrapping becomes damaged."

Both his group, the American Vaping Association, and the Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association (the self-described "voice of the vapor products industry") have lamented U.S. regulators' decision to consider vaporizers "tobacco products" under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

The advocacy groups claim the FDA's decision to regulate vaping products under the Act will freeze safety innovation by forcing manufacturers to submit cumbersome product applications for each new product or product modification.

Under the FDA's current framework, vape products that were already on the market before Aug. 2016 can remain on the market in their current state until Aug. 2022, a cutoff date that was recently pushed back from the original 2018 deadline, according to online magazine Vaping360.

The vaping industry's battery safety concerns meanwhile are playing out against the backdrop of a broad public debate over vaporizers' purported health benefits over smoking tobacco.

The industry maintains that the devices' "e-liquids," which are placed in e-cigarettes and heated to a low temperature, offer a safe alternative to tobacco and provide a powerful method to quit smoking. The liquids typically contain a carrier medium like propylene glycol, as well as flavorings and other ingredients including optional nicotine at graduated concentrations.

The CDC has stated that "e-cigarettes have the potential to benefit adult smokers who are not pregnant, if used as a complete substitute for regular cigarettes and other smoked tobacco products."

Regulation is by all accounts evolving, however, and the long-term effects of inhaling various e-liquid ingredients have not been studied extensively due to the novel nature of the devices.

Last year, the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency stipulated that the additive diacetyl should be banned for use in e-liquids in the U.K. under the EU Tobacco Products Directive.

Shenzhen Kangside Technology Co. Ltd., a purported Chinese manufacturer named as a defendant in the recently filed wrongful death lawsuit, has not responded to a request for comment, nor has battery charger company Anker Technology, another defendant in the case.

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