LG ordered to pay £150k after phone defect caused Scotland house fire
- Reference: 1754568015
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/07/lg_ordered_to_pay_150k/
- Source link:
Sheriff Robert Fife of Edinburgh Sheriff Court [1]said [PDF] that "on the balance of probabilities," the LG K8 supplied to Denise Parks by North Lanarkshire Council, her employer at the time, was the likely cause of the fire.
The Sheriff awarded Parks £149,496 ($199,897) in damages, much of which will be allocated to her insurer, which paid out £95,385.75 ($127,539.81) in 2020, plus interest of £47,598.49 ($63,644.98).
[2]
Parks and her husband, Robert, were woken at around 0300 local time on October 31, 2018, by smoke filling their Coatbridge house.
[3]
[4]
The case centered around which company's product caused the fire, which was localized to the living room. After retiring to their bed the previous evening at around 23:00, the couple left three devices on their sofa, all plugged in and charging for the following day.
These devices were an Acer Aspire ES 13 laptop, a [5]Samsung Galaxy S7 , and an LG K8. All were plugged into the same extension cord.
[6]
Forensics experts Darren Green and Mark Phillips were drafted in to assess the damage to the Parks' home and the devices themselves.
They looked at the state of the devices after the fire, finding that both the Samsung and Acer were not significantly fire-damaged, unlike the LG.
According to Green and Phillips' joint report, the inside of the LG battery was fire-damaged. The battery was distended, had a hole in it, and most of the plastic and combustible materials of the device's body were consumed by the fire.
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Conversely, there was little fire damage to the Samsung's internals or externals, and although one of the three pouch cells inside the Acer's [8]lithium-ion battery was missing, the two that remained were undamaged.
The LG K8 was being charged by an [9]HTC charger, which was not substantially damaged. The voltage and amps delivered by it were also within LG's guidelines, and the charger was not deemed to be the cause of the fire.
Emergency services treated Denise Parks for smoke inhalation, and a psychologist concluded that she suffered a worsened mental condition following the fire.
Sheriff Fife noted that Parks had a history of anxiety and panic attacks, a condition that was exacerbated because of the fire. As a result, she was absent from work for three months, between November 2, 2018, and February 7, 2019.
[10]Smoking smartphone sparks emergency evacuation of Alaska Airlines jet, two taken to hospital
[11]South Korean lithium battery plant blaze kills at least 23
[12]iPhone 14 car crash detection triggered by roller coasters
[13]India eats China's lunch in US smartphone manufacturing
Per Parks' employment contract, she had to repay North Lanarkshire Council £2,261.48 ($3,023.49), including interest, in sick pay for the time she was not in work.
Sheriff Fife said in his judgment: "At the time the fire started, the LG was in normal use, being charged by a suitable charger, and in circumstances in which a standard product would not have failed. The court was entitled to draw an inference that the LG was defective. The LG did not meet the standard of safety that persons generally are entitled to expect.
"Accordingly, I have concluded there was a defect in the LG in terms of section 3(1) of the [Consumer Protection Act 1987] and the pursuer has established a breach of section 2 of the 1987 Act by the defender, on the balance of probabilities."
The Register approached LG for a statement. ®
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[1] https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/media/5prb3tny/2025scedin40-denise-parks-against-lg-electronics-uk-ltd.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aJTNlVKwEP6FaQtMSQRU-wAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJTNlVKwEP6FaQtMSQRU-wAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJTNlVKwEP6FaQtMSQRU-wAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/22/samsung_galaxy_s7/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJTNlVKwEP6FaQtMSQRU-wAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJTNlVKwEP6FaQtMSQRU-wAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/17/heat_repairs_li_ion_batteries/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/30/peak_screen_xr_next_htc/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/24/alaska_smartphone_fire/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/25/aricell_plant_fire_korea/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/10/iphone_14_car_crash_detection/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/28/smartphone_china_india/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Important lession here
...the couple left three devices on their sofa, all plugged in and charging for the following day...
Nothing which is being charged should be left on a heat insulating surface which is itself flammable. The draining board next to your kitchen sink is a much safer place.
Re: Important lession here
Inside the fireplace is my best bet for charging self-combustible electronics :)
Re: Important lession here
Good point about never leaving devices charging on a a soft surface: thats something I don't remember ever doing, though I do have a number of devices that are fairly often given overnight charges:
- My phone is charged overnight on top of a bedside set of drawers holding a lamp and my home-brew wake-up system (built in 1978, it uses mains frequency as its time source to switch power for an ancient ITT all-band mains/battery radio that I bought in 1977 so we could get the BBC World Service news every night during my 1977/78 Landrover trip to Kathmandu and back).
- my razor is also mains charged as needed, alongside the ITT radio
- I also charge a couple of 12 volt 7AH YUASA sealed lead-acid cells on an as-needed basis. These power the radio, FLARM, T&B etc in a glider, as well as a hand-held airband radio. This collection sits away from walls, floor, etc on an unused ceramic floor tile, so is fairly unlikely to cause fires.
"one of the three pouch cells inside the Acer's lithium-ion battery was missing"
This needs an explanation. Was it never fitted? Was the battery damaged in an earlier incident? How did the did the device ever work? Did it shrivel up in the fire? Was it stolen by a fireman? Are they sure there was supposed to be three cells?
UnLucky Goldstar
That is all!
LG
Lights (up) Good.