SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – Apple faces a lawsuit that alleges an Amber Alert that went off while a child was wearing one of its AirPods caused permanent damage.
Parents of a minor known as B.G. in court papers filed suit in San Francisco federal court on May 16, also naming Luxshare as a defendant. The lawsuit says B.G. was watching Netflix on his iPhone while wearing an AirPod in his right ear.
“This boy’s life has been severely altered because Apple did not provide a warning about the volume levels of its AirPods, leading to permanent hearing loss,” said his lawyer, Tej Paranjpe of PMR Law.
“Had Apple designed the AirPods to self-adjust to safe levels or provided warnings about the volume increases associated with alerts, this boy would be living a normal life.”
Instead, the suit alleges, he has suffered nausea, dizziness, vertigo and tinnitus since the incident. He will have to wear a hearing aid for the rest of his life, it adds.
Luxshare exports, imports, markets, distributes and sells AirPods.
B.G., of San Antonio, Texas, was 12 years old in May 2020 when the incident occurred. His ear drum was torn apart and his cochlea was damaged, the suit says. Apple, the suit says, failed to warn that AirPods do not automatically reduce their volume when an Amber Alert is broadcast and that users, according to Apple’s instructions, must put the AirPods in a position in the ear that increases the risk of injury should an unexpected increase in volume occur.
The suit seeks damages for negligence, design defect, failure to warn, manufacturing defect, gross negligence, breach of implied warranty, fraud by non-disclosure and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
B.G. and his parents are also represented by Richard Collins of Callahan & Blaine.