the joys of lithium batteries. this is why they dont belong in hyrbid cars yet.

If the batteries were the cause of such then I don't see how the lawsuit could be against Apple. However if the ipod is at fault then I can certainly understand the lawsuit and honestly am surprised they aren't asking for much more. As for as the gross recklessness and negligence charges that's just bullshit.

it has to be the batteries that exploded.....what else could in an ipod? the screen? he probably dropped it and messed up the battery or something, lithium batteries are sensitive - thats why they always have rigid plastic cases (like cell phone batteries). The ones in the ipod are soft cells, they rely on the ipod body to provide the rigid structure.

1) lol@ipod exploding in pocket. Despite the author's claim, yes, it is funny. If it happened to me I'd want to laugh it off best as I could too, so meh.

2) lol@lawsuit... a lawsuit I can understand (kind of... given the number of the devices they must move it's tough to say they've been negligent when *ONE* explodes, but whatever), the scope and damages though... wow. Mental and emotional distress for the rest of his life? I'd call it a pretty decent story to tell for the rest of his life. Suing the retail employees takes it from ridiculous to absolutely hysterical.

3) I'm aware a jailbreak probably would ruin whatever chance they've got at winning, but that doesn't mean it should. If Apple didn't have ridiculous restrictions on what their devices can do it wouldn't have needed to be jailbroken in the first place.

Why SHOULD the sales clerk at the Apple store warn her? Any electronic device has the potential to fail, sometimes with undesirable results. I dont recall getting a warning from the girl at the cell phone store when I got my new phone.

Exactly. This reminds me of the exploding laptops lol.

Let's see, now whats the chance that the boy is lying about the device having been turned off 50/50? My guess is he had the device in his pocket, on and running, listening to music while he should of been listening to his teacher or doing class work.

Lets see, the most likely cause would be that the device was on and being used, which would cause the device to generate heat. If the boy was wearing tight or none loose clothing, that would amplify things. Which would seem to be the case when hearing the nature of said burns. The heat being generated and held into the device very likely either caused some caps or voltage regulation units to blow, which would explain the loud pop.

This applies since while not in use or turned off, the batteries aren't being drained or charged. Batteries only produce heat while being charged or discharged. Either that or the boy would of had to have done something to the device to damage it to the point of making the battery unstable.

Also a note of reference. Second degree burns are not overly severe. They're defined as any burn where the skin is red, irritated and blisters are forming (lay mans terms). So, sort of like if you touch a hot frying pan, and it causes the spot to blister, or say if you've ever had a really severe sunburn (i have, it's not fun when the top 1/3 of your body is sunburned and covered in blisters). Which means there will 95% likely be no permanent scarring.

God, this is like people suing mcdonalds because they spilled coffee on their laps while they were driving, and it was hot. And people say we don't have problems with frivolous lawsuits.

mental/physical issues, mental distress, etc... WHAT? are you KIDDING ME? Kids at 15 set off fire and explosions all the time, a simple "pop...ow my leg" isn't going to scar the kid for the rest of his life.. this is such a poor poor reason to sue.. just stick with "it damaged my body and could have done more" not the whole mental issue lifetime bit..

jesus christ (excuse my language) this is insane man, mental distress.. give it a rest.

Yeah, the line about "He continues to suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life" is funny. What a ridiculous statement. I guess when I was little and burned my hand on a hot microwave pizza and got a huge blister, that I should be traumatized by microwaves and pizzas now.

FAIL at suing the salesman....its like suing a car salesman because you got in an accident and the guy didn't tell you that you might get in a car accident when you bought the car.

"He continues to suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life."

Lol, I cant wait to use this line in every day life. Holy crap.

Hmm, lets see...

Liar liar pants on fire?

Exploded in his pants jokes?

Its a feature?

Nah, I'll go with its a New Apple DRM scheme.

"I knew I shouldn't have downloaded that new Al Qaeda suicide bomber app..."

but seriously, what a stupid greedy parent. "...continues to suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life..." Kids aren't going to tease you for having your phone explode, they will hate you forever if you were the reason Apple had to quit selling iphones.

The lawsuit is of curse ridiculous and funny. But if it is shown that the kid did not tamper with the device then his family might actually get some monetary compensation.
Using the car example from above, if you buy a car and you get into some small accident (eg. fender bender) because the brakes were screwed up since fabrication(and it is proven so), then I think you can go after the car manufacturer. At least so that they can pay for the repair the cars.

Of curse, the salesman is not to blame. He had no part in the testing of the device.

who wears spandex underwear?

Maybe "suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life" is a really nice way of saying "is the biggest mama's boy pussy that ever lived and will probably never leave my basement other then for doreto's and pepsi. The ability to afford a hooker is the only way he's getting laid ever!"

ah, the joy of the american law system...

why not sue the place they earned the money to buy the ipod in the first place? or the pants manufacturer for their negligence of not warning consumers that their products arn't ipod safe? why stop there when you can sue the school for the bathroom being 20 feet from the classroom he was in?

When i read about this i couldn't help but be reminded of this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

So classic...

Someone really needs to do a remixed version for the kid... Now im standing in an awkward pose as when my ipod explodes... LOL

I'm interested in the actual physical damage.

He could have serious muscle damage. I know if one of my legs became useless, I'd kill myself. I wouldn't expect others to, but acrobatic physical activity is my livelihood.

Only then could I see any of these charges make sense. But if it's going to heal alright after a few weeks, he'll get a cool scar, and an interesting story afterwards, this is yet another frivolous lawsuit.

Sue for medical bills, court costs, and pain and suffering for the time it takes it to heal. Not for some bull about 'emotional damage'.

"The cure for american stupidity is to remove the Warning labels off products, let them figure out for themselves what could be dangerous " ofc this doesn`t apply to whole population something clearly has gone wrong in that device and it is an unfortunate incident but from 1 incident to go bash apple is quite absurd.

The fact that you remember it, shows that there was some mental trauma

I can't see how the sales people at the apple store are at fault. This whole thing is out of order!!!!! People are always looking for a free ride,easy money...

Wow, way to make an analogy there genius. An apple pie is supposed to be hot, and even if the person didn't know that, still when they do get it on their table they'd know it by touching it. But if with all of that the person still got burnt it's his/her fault, and not that of McDonald's. How the heck can you compare that with a poor kid nearly getting his nuts roasted like that? You say that as if exploding pocket devices are as regular as hot apple pies (here's a hint schlomoe; they don't). It's sad to see a consumer oriented tech site felate a big company rather then looking out for the consumers.

And why is this douche Parrish still writing for Tom's anyway?

lol a book of matches decided to ignite itself as i reached into my pocket. it burned thru to my leg. my buddy and i were far too busy laughing our a$$es off to even think about any sort of litigious activity! these people need to get a new iPod and move on with their lives.

Sue the company, sure. Sue the salespersons? That's a dick move.

You can't be serious. The iPod was manufactured and sold by Apple and the battery is non-removable.

Of course the lawsuit is bullshit. This is America. If you aren't looking for some free money and an easy ride at the expense of self respecting companies you clearly aren't trying hard enough. I pray every night that my laptop battery explodes that way I can sue someone for several million dollars even if the only damage was ruining my dinner table.

I am surprised that when Apple heard about the asking price on damages they didn't go. OMG Deal Deal, no take backs.

Why are they not going after the underwear manufacturer too? Brands like Under Armour have been popularizing "high performance" synthetic clothing like the nylon/spandex underwear this person was wearing. Last year I saw a sign in a sports store for one of the brands saying something like, "cotton is the enemy." I bet the only reason that his burns were as bad as they were was that the nylon melted to his skin, which could have been avoided had he been wearing cotton. Given that the clothing companies have been advertising against natural fibers, and if there was not a warning about the danger posed by melting on the underwear, then a law suit in that direction could make a bit more sense than trying to say that the Apple store employees have any fault in this.

I just wonder how far the burns go on his leg. This did state his a man. I just wonder where exactly he got burnt it might just justify the emotional damages. It did burn his underwear too soo... i just wondering.

Honestly...who turns an iPod touch off? Most people put it on hold which gives a very long battery life, and saves soo much time compared to actually holding it down and turning it off, then booting it up everytime. I bet the kid doesn't even know the definition of on or off for his own iPod. And the kid forgot to mention the warm sensation before the pop when he pissed his pants and short circuited the iPod.

Honestly I carry my iPod in my pocked all day, yesterday for over an hour I was laying/sitting on my iPod, and this article doesn't phase me at all about having done that.

To the parents: Atleast Apple is willing to work for their money

To the kid: Sorry you almost got you balls blown off, but really, suck it up. (2nd degree burn=red and blistery, no permanent damage, 3rd degree means that there was damage done to the lowest levels of the skin, and even muscle damage, a third degree usually requires a skin graph) He only had 2nd degree so he should suck it up, and who DOES where spandex for anything but sports?

I can see a law suit, but come on, criminal charges? That mom is a serious seeyouNT if she does that... Yeah I'm sure it hurts to see your baby in pain, but use some logic!!