BC woman sues HP after notebook computer catches fire

By ThinkPol Staff

A British Columbia woman is suing the world’s leading personal computer manufacturer HP over allegations that her notebook computer overheated causing a fire that destroyed her belongings and forced her out of her rental suite.

Shelby Barr, of Williams Lake, B.C., alleges her HP 2000-2C-20CA notebook computer, which she received as a gift from her mother, overheated and caused a fire at her property on or about February 24, 2016, according to court documents filed at BC Supreme Court in New Westminster^[1]BARR, Shelby v HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE CANADA CO. HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE CANADA CIE NEW-S-S-197318.

“As a result of the Fire, the Plaintiff has suffered loss, damage and expense, including but not limited to, expense for alternate living accommodation and loss of contents, among other loss, damage and expense sustained,” the lawsuit alleges.

The Notebook and Battery were manufactured by the HP, and in June 2016, the company issued a recall for certain HP notebook computer batteries, including the battery contained in the notebook owned by the plaintiff, the complaint states.

“On June 14, 2016 HP announced a worldwide voluntary safety recall and replacement program in cooperation with various government regulatory agencies, for certain notebook computer batteries,” a recall notice posted on the company’s website states^[2]http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/recalls.html. “The affected batteries were shipped with specific HP, Compaq, HP ProBook, HP ENVY, Compaq Presario, and HP Pavilion Notebook Computers sold worldwide from March 2013 through August 2015, and/or were sold as accessories or spares, or provided as replacements through Support.”

“These batteries have the potential to overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to customers,” the the company adds. “HP advises customers to cease use of affected batteries immediately.”

In January 2017, HP expanded the recall program to cover additional batteries shipped with the same notebook models covered in the earlier recall notice^[3]https://h30686.www3.hp.com/?lang=en-US.

Amongst other allegations, the suit accused HP of “placing the defective Notebook and Battery in the stream of commerce when it knew, or ought to have known, that the Notebook and Battery were defective.”

We reached out to HP for comment, and were told that the company is looking into the matter.

HP, with a 22% market share, is the world’s largest personal computer manufacturer according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker^[4]https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US43382217.