Illinois family sue Microsoft and Wal-Mart over Xbox-related death

[Timboo]

In a second bit of Illinois related news, a family from said state has blamed a faulty Xbox system for the death of their child back in December of 2004. Why? The console was said to have overheated and caused the wall outlet to spark a fire, perhaps because of likely a recalled power cord. As a result, the family is suing Microsoft, Wal-Mart and finally, a power supply manufacturer for damages that total more than $50,000. Interestingly, the law suit names the console culprit as an Xbox 360, in 2004? Doubt it.

News Source:http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/24/microsoft-wal-mart-sued-over-babys-death/

[kamagurka]

Only $50,000? Why not $50,000,000?

[Frak-Frakistan]

man i thought the ps3 was violent(the shooting) but the 360 has blood on its hand

[swainclubber]

bloody americans, ah well

[kcvfr400]

This is going to be 1 of the many xbox power supply problems not 360. I remember 1 person in Anglesey in Wales had a fire because of the faulty power supply. here is the link http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/23/xbox_blaze/

[dee]

I hate bogus Lawsuits, for $50,000? How much is a life worth?

People like these should be jailed for wasting tax payers money and to serve as an example for any one who thinks its their constitutional right to sue just for the heck of it.

[funktion]

Ha, Bait lies I tells ya! people should stop trying to get money for the most depressing thing, unless they had proof.
If it was faulty why not take it back straight away? silly people with their silly get rich schemes.

Please MaxC admins tell me if they win or not please.

[Sinar]

Microsoft sent letters out to each registered xbox and live account to address this fault and to offer replacement cords. Walmart is blameless in this issue.
If anyone should be sued it's foxconn for making such a shoddy psu and perhaps microsoft for covering up the issue with a fix that just cuts the unit off when failure is detected.

[KainXS]

Microsoft sent letters out to each registered xbox and live account to address this fault and to offer replacement cords. Walmart is blameless in this issue.
If anyone should be sued it's foxconn for making such a shoddy psu and perhaps microsoft for covering up the issue with a fix that just cuts the unit off when failure is detected.

i never got no letter

[Sinar]

That does suck, i got two for my first xbox and one asking me to check my v1.6 crystal at the xbox site.

[Scorpion3]

man i thought the ps3 was violent(the shooting) but the 360 has blood on its hand

Did you not read the article? XBOX, not 360, which they will lose the case because the faulty power cords were recalled because of this and they sent out new AC adapters to anyone who asked for them.

i never got no letter

It was only in a couple states they sent out letters, but it was on local news stations as well as MSNBC constantly, not to mention the internet so if they didn't hear about it, that's there fault. Microsoft did put a lot of info out there about it.

[Awakened1]

lol Their suit states the Xbox 360 though. Too bad there weren't any 360's in public in 2004 :rolleyes:. ""in excess of $50,000," Of course there going after two huge major corporations rofl. It's even more pathetic that they can put a price tag on their child. Because lot's of money will bring the child back.....

[gonepostl]

Before you all pass judgment YOUR xbox didn't start on fire. Mine actually did. If I would have left the house and not smelt that smell my house would have been gone too. It was really scary when I powered it off. The power button electrically zapped me like I was sticking my index into a wall socket. All the while the carpet almost caught fire.:eek:

Thank god that I was there when it started sparking and catching fire. This family deserves everything they get from Microsoft.

[recall2000]

Sue sue sue sue sue sue sue sue......c*nts.

[Scorpion3]

Before you all pass judgment YOUR xbox didn't start on fire. Mine actually did. If I would have left the house and not smelt that smell my house would have been gone too. It was really scary when I powered it off. The power button electrically zapped me like I was sticking my index into a wall socket. All the while the carpet almost caught fire.:eek:

Thank god that I was there when it started sparking and catching fire. This family deserves everything they get from Microsoft.

Yet again, you'd rather side with anyone against Microsoft instead of actually getting the point. Yes, Microsoft are responsible for the possibility of a fire, no they are not liable for the death of their child. What did they do leave the baby home alone? If the Xbox started a fire and they were sitting there, they obviously would have seen it, had time to grab the baby, and more and get out of the house safely. Not to mention the fact that they're suing like it will bring their baby back from the dead, they always claim that they are suing for the trama they've been through but if they went through trama they would honor their baby's death by just letting it go. But of course that's not what they do, makes me wonder how much lawsuits you see are actually murder cases, ya know?

But, in the end, they're suing because of the 360 and that's not true so they'll lose.

[indierocker]

maybe they should have paid attention to the letters and e-mails MS sent out.

[Xenogears V]

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.

[p$p b0y]

2 and a half years on and the family havnt done anything untill now...

wernt microsoft rich enough back then?

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.

do you have to constantly spam to raise your post count? isnt 5.5k enough?

[gonepostl]

Yet again, you'd rather side with anyone against Microsoft instead of actually getting the point. Yes, Microsoft are responsible for the possibility of a fire, no they are not liable for the death of their child. What did they do leave the baby home alone? If the Xbox started a fire and they were sitting there, they obviously would have seen it, had time to grab the baby, and more and get out of the house safely. Not to mention the fact that they're suing like it will bring their baby back from the dead, they always claim that they are suing for the trama they've been through but if they went through trama they would honor their baby's death by just letting it go. But of course that's not what they do, makes me wonder how much lawsuits you see are actually murder cases, ya know?

But, in the end, they're suing because of the 360 and that's not true so they'll lose.

What a ignorant heartless comment. YOU MONSTER!

[*StoneCold*]

Yet again, you'd rather side with anyone against Microsoft instead of actually getting the point. Yes, Microsoft are responsible for the possibility of a fire, no they are not liable for the death of their child. What did they do leave the baby home alone? If the Xbox started a fire and they were sitting there, they obviously would have seen it, had time to grab the baby, and more and get out of the house safely. Not to mention the fact that they're suing like it will bring their baby back from the dead, they always claim that they are suing for the trama they've been through but if they went through trama they would honor their baby's death by just letting it go. But of course that's not what they do, makes me wonder how much lawsuits you see are actually murder cases, ya know?

But, in the end, they're suing because of the 360 and that's not true so they'll lose.

There you siding with MS as usual, it doesent matter if they sent out 5 million letters, you should not have to worry about the piece of piece xbox consoles catching fire!

I dont give a f*ck if it was MS, Sony or Nintendo, if you release a faulty console and if it catches fire and f*cking kills a kid then THEY are responcible.

Also this fire could have happened at night so that would have made it very hard to get the kid out alive!

I hope MS get took to the cleaners here, you saying they will get nothing is crap, this is MS's fault and they will pay.

[gonepostl]

****edited
The horrible things Scorpion has said. This thread should be closed.

[OblivionX]

my alarm clock cought fire 2 years ago. I didnt try to sue the people that made it mind you. Why? well 2 reasons, 1 its an electric piece of equipment and these things happen and 2 because if my house was wired up correctly at the time the circuit breaker would have kicked in. It now is and even if so much as a fuse blows on the something the whole house powers down. You can even get extension cables now with mini ones built in. Also no disrespect to the people but why where they not watching thier kids...if they where and the xbox went up in smoke they can grab the kids and get out. I find some parents just need 2 pay more attention to thier kids. For instance the girl in portugal at the moment, a horrible story but my god would you leave your kids at home while you went for a meal? Some peoples idiocy really suprises me, there are some people that I see with kids and I think to myself I wouldnt trust these people to park my car and they need to take care of a kid.

And trying to get money off your childs death is completely sick. The parents need a slap. Its like when people get compensation for people dying, I wouldnt want that money. Sure enough a loving parent has a trust fund and they leave it to you thats fine, they wanted you to have it, its there wish, but trying to profit off someones death is a horrible act.

edit: oh and fanboyism should come into any effect at all when dealing with stories like this, its a console it isnt a life. Sure the xbox caught fire and MS built it and yeah if the parents really want it MS should pay its a fault with the machine and a well known one. But I find the whole thing rather sick.

[aic007]

I find some parents just need 2 pay more attention to thier kids. For instance the girl in portugal at the moment, a horrible story but my god would you leave your kids at home while you went for a meal? Some peoples idiocy really suprises me, there are some people that I see with kids and I think to myself I wouldnt trust these people to park my car and they need to take care of a kid.


Damn straight, that was some messed up **** and the fact that no one really blasted the family blows my mind. No one in their right mind should leave a child alone in a house, yes they can be in another room playing and something may happen but at least you are there with them if something does. You can check on them and should also make sure where ever they are, there isn't a cable hanging from the TV that they can pull in to cause the TV to fall over, or have the outlets covered so they don't stick something in them. But to leave kids in a room so you can have dinner is a disgrace and the parents should be locked up for negligence.

[Scorpion3]

****edited
The horrible things Scorpion has said. This thread should be closed.

Yep, cause I'm a heartless bastard. lol

my alarm clock cought fire 2 years ago. I didnt try to sue the people that made it mind you. Why? well 2 reasons, 1 its an electric piece of equipment and these things happen and 2 because if my house was wired up correctly at the time the circuit breaker would have kicked in. It now is and even if so much as a fuse blows on the something the whole house powers down. You can even get extension cables now with mini ones built in. Also no disrespect to the people but why where they not watching thier kids...if they where and the xbox went up in smoke they can grab the kids and get out. I find some parents just need 2 pay more attention to thier kids. For instance the girl in portugal at the moment, a horrible story but my god would you leave your kids at home while you went for a meal? Some peoples idiocy really suprises me, there are some people that I see with kids and I think to myself I wouldnt trust these people to park my car and they need to take care of a kid.

And trying to get money off your childs death is completely sick. The parents need a slap. Its like when people get compensation for people dying, I wouldnt want that money. Sure enough a loving parent has a trust fund and they leave it to you thats fine, they wanted you to have it, its there wish, but trying to profit off someones death is a horrible act.

edit: oh and fanboyism should come into any effect at all when dealing with stories like this, its a console it isnt a life. Sure the xbox caught fire and MS built it and yeah if the parents really want it MS should pay its a fault with the machine and a well known one. But I find the whole thing rather sick.

Very well said, especially that last part. Some people don't understand the value of a life until they lose it. And then there's some who don't realize value until they get life insurance. =\

[kcvfr400]

First this is clearly a miss type as its xbox 1 fault not 360. Got to agree with the whole suing for a life thing is stupid, but thats Amercia for you. Instead microsoft should be done for corporate manslaugther and put someone in jail for it instead. Microsoft new about this fault and just replaced the power lead when in fact it was weak connections inside the machines power board that cause this fault. No matter what company it is we all want safe and reliable consoles.

[Ichinisan]

Everyone:
The XBOX power CORD that was recalled is in NO WAY a "power supply". It simply conducts AC electricity from the wall outlet to the internal power supply of the XBOX. The cable is standard and is used so widely in countless consumer appliances, and its design is so simple, that I can't imagine a recall-worthy defect that only affected cords that were sent to the Microsoft factory. Such a cable is so cheap and standard that I'm sure that there are only a couple of manufacturers to make the bulk of them for ALL other manufacturers.