Samsung Sheds Battery Burn Suit After Fifth Circuit Reconsiders

A federal appeals court said Monday that a lower court lacked the jurisdiction to hear a burn victim’s lawsuit against Samsung SDI Co. because the company uses a customer vetting process to prevent individuals from getting the batteries that caused the burn.

After “hunting through the record,” the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said it found where Samsung described its efforts to prevent individual customers from getting its batteries. The court reconsidered its earlier ruling in the case, which had revived the plaintiffs’ claims.

Plaintiff James Ethridge sued the company in a Texas federal court after he ...