THE EXPLOSION CASE

By : Farhah & Co

MATERIAL FACTS OF THE CASE

1. BUYER (AH MEI)
Bought a second hand mobile phone from Seng Chow Telecommunication.
Interested to buy after reading an online advertisement.
Injured due to explosion after the phone was charged for the first time.

2. SELLER (SENG CHOW TELECOMMUNICATION)

Claimed the phone was still in good condition and covered by a warranty.
Admitted to have change the battery to a non-original one.
Refused to be responsible for Ah Meis injury on the ground it was not
reasonably foreseeable.

3. MANUFACTURER (SAMSUNG)
Claimed that the incident should not have happened although the phone was
still within the warranty period, unless the battery has been tempered with.

CAUSE OF ACTION
Ah Mei bought the phone from Seng Chow Telecommunication Sdn. Bhd.
The seller convinced her that he had received the phone in a very good
condition and was still within the warranty period. However without Ah Meis
knowledge, the seller had replaced the battery with a non-original one which
had suddenly exploded and caused severe injury on her right hand when she
was charging the phone for the first time.

LEGAL ISSUES
Whether the seller was negligence in selling defective product.
Whether the seller owed the duty of care towards Ah Mei.
Whether the seller had breach the duty of care to ensure the product
was in good condition and safe for Ah Mei to use.
Whether the injury suffered by Ah Mei was reasonably foresee by the
seller.
Whether the act of the seller not telling he changed the battery
amounted to fraud.
PREDICTION OF OUTCOME BASED ON SUNDRAM VEERIAH V MAGNEFICIENT
DIAGRAPH SDN. BHD.

Sundrams Case Ah Meis Case

Plaintiff bought a drill from the defendant Ah Mei bought the second-hand phone
from the seller
The drill was defective and caused injury The second-hand phone was defective
to the plaintiffs face and caused injury to Ah Meis right hand
The defendant failed to check all drills The seller failed to check the second-
sold at their premises hand phone before sold it to Ah Mei
The damage suffered by the plaintiff was The injury suffered by Ah Mei was
reasonably foreseeable by the defendant reasonably foresee by the seller