A man suing Samsung SDI America (SDIA and Samsung SDI Co. Ltd (Samsung), Inc. after he said E-cigarettes exploded in his pocket was denied his motion to remand the case.
At the same time, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila of the Northern District of California’s San Jose Division granted SDIA’s motion to transfer the lawsuit to the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.
Plaintiff Joseph North filed the lawsuit, alleging that he was carrying his child when the defendant’s E-cigarette batteries exploded in his pocket, causing his clothes to catch on fire. While the child wasn’t hurt, he was rushed to the hospital and suffered first and second-degree burns. He first sued in the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County, and SDIA removed it to federal court.
Judge Davila has now denied North’s motion to remand, and granted SDIA’s motion to transfer to a Texas court.
Judge Davila denied the motion to remand and dismissed SDIA, ruling that it was a sham defendant.
“Plaintiff’s allegations are based entirely on information and belief and consist of nothing more than boilerplate legal terms and phrases," Davila wrote. "Plaintiff does not allege even a single fact to support the broad allegations of agency, servitude employment, or joint venture. Plaintiff's allegations of conspiracy, successor liability, alter-ego, parent-subsidiary, and ownership are similarly all legal conclusions unsupported by facts.”
Judge Davila continued and said that North failed to actually claim that the defendant took part in distributing the batteries.
Samsung is the sole defendant left. Even though North’s claims fell short, Judge Davila refused to dismiss the case altogether