Jury Holds Vape Battery Seller 100% at Fault for E-Cigarette Explosion That Damaged Man's Teeth; Verdict Affirmed
After trial: Affirmed in full by Florida's First District Court of Appeal on July 9, 2019, which rejected both the evidence and excessiveness arguments. The final judgment was the verdict less collateral source setoffs; the setoff amount was not published, so the figure shown is the verdict.
Won by Beasley Allen.
In 2016 a lithium-ion battery sold by R-L Sales, LLC exploded in J. Michael Hoce's mouth while he used a self-assembled vaping device, damaging several teeth. An Alachua County jury found the seller 100 percent at fault in April 2018 and awarded $47,800 for medical expenses and $2 million for pain and suffering. Florida's First District Court of Appeal affirmed on July 9, 2019, rejecting challenges to the excluded drug-use evidence and to the size of the award.
What happened
In 2016, J. Michael Hoce was using a vaping device when its lithium-ion battery exploded in his mouth. The blast damaged several of his teeth. He had built the device himself from separate components and had bought the battery from R-L Sales, LLC, a Utah company that sold lithium-ion batteries for e-cigarettes.
Hoce sued the companies that made and sold the e-cigarette and its parts. By the time the case reached trial in Alachua County, Florida, in April 2018, R-L Sales was the only defendant left. It was the first vape battery combustion case to go to trial in Florida, according to the plaintiff's trial lawyer.
The jury heard that since the explosion Hoce had constant pain in his teeth that he did not have before, trouble eating and sleeping, and a need for multiple painful surgeries to repair the damaged teeth and related dental problems. Hoce already had extensive dental problems before the accident, and the jury was allowed to weigh how much of the damage the explosion caused. The judge kept out evidence that Hoce used methamphetamine, ruling it irrelevant and more prejudicial than probative.
The jury found R-L Sales 100 percent at fault and assigned no fault to Hoce or to any of the other parties listed on the verdict form. It awarded $47,800 for medical expenses and $2 million for pain and suffering, disfigurement, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment of life. Published accounts say the defense offered the jury no alternative figure for the non-economic damages.
R-L Sales asked the trial court for a new trial or a reduced award and was denied. The court entered final judgment for the amount of the verdict less collateral source setoffs.
R-L Sales appealed to Florida's First District Court of Appeal on two points: the exclusion of the methamphetamine evidence, and the size of the pain and suffering award. In a per curiam opinion issued July 9, 2019, the three-judge panel rejected both. It found no abuse of discretion in the evidence ruling and held that, although the award was substantial, it had adequate support in the record and did not shock the judicial conscience. Richard D. Stratton of Beasley Allen appeared for Hoce on appeal, alongside lawyers from Morgan & Morgan and Brannock & Humphries.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.R-L Sales, LLC v. Hoce, No. 1D18-2298 (Fla. 1st DCA July 9, 2019)
- 2.Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, 'Verdict of $2 million upheld in case involving Florida man who lost his teeth in an e-cig explosion', July 10, 2019·Archived copy
- 3.ECigIntelligence, 'Man loses teeth, gains $2m in pipe bomb battery case', April 18, 2018·Archived copy
- 4.Morris, Manning & Martin, 'Florida Appellate Court Affirms $2 Million Hoce Verdict in E-Cig Case', Dec. 10, 2019·Archived copy
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