Woman wins £150,000 in damages after mobile sparked fire at her North Lanarkshire home

A woman has won a nearly £150,000 in a damages claim against a mobile phone maker after one of its devices sparked a fire at her home.

Denise Parks and her husband, Robert, were in bed at their home in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, when a fire broke out in the living room around 3am on October 31, 2018.

A laptop and two mobile phones, a Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG K8, were left charging on a couch before the couple retired for the night.

The LG phone was severely damaged in the subsequent fire with more limited damage to the other phone and the computer.

Mrs Parks was treated for smoke inhalation after the fire, and her history of panic attacks and anxiety worsened following the incident at her home.

As a result of the fire she was off work between November 2 in 2018 and February 7 the following year.

She raised an action against LG Electronics UK Ltd at the personal injury court at Edinburgh Sheriff Court seeking damages, with liability being contested.

A sheriff has now ruled on the balance of probabilities that the LG phone, supplied to Mrs Parks by her employer North Lanarkshire Council, was the source of ignition for the fire.

Sheriff Robert Fife found that there was a defect in the LG phone and that Mrs Parks established liability against the makers. He also found that she has proved she sustained injury because of the fire.

The sheriff ruled that Mrs Parks, a home support carer with the local authority, was entitled to damages in the sum of £149,496.

Sheriff Fife said in a 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.”