E-Cig Battery Explodes in Defense Attorney’s Pocket During Arson Trial

[Pants on Fire Alert] On Wednesday March 8^th,  Florida defense attorney Stephen Gutierrez was defending his client who was alleged to have started a car fire. During closing arguments while Stephen was stating his client’s defense that the car had spontaneously combusted, Stephen’s pants began to combust on their own. His pants began to smoke and catch fire in the courtroom.

The culprit? Stephen had stored an e-cigarette (e-cig) battery in his pocket, which was now overheating and burning his pants. Stephen exited the courtroom to return later with burned clothing.

This irony of an attorney in an arson case having his pants on fire was not lost on the media, which has jumped on this story worldwide. You can read more about it here, here or here.

E-cig batteries frequently have no safeguards to detect or prevent overheating, and the e-cig devices they are used in also frequently have no safeguards. The result can be either an overcharge of the battery, too large a draw from the battery, or simply an accidental draining of the battery from contact with metal. It is unknown what caused Stephen Gutierrez’s battery to malfunction.

You can read more about e-cig battery explosions and e-cig battery lawsuits here at our site.  If you have a similar story and have been affected by the lack of safety design, call us to speak with our attorneys today.  We promise our pants won’t catch on fire.

• Read about E-cig Battery Explosions.
• Video of E-cig Battery Explosion