The family of a Fort Worth man who died in a vaping accident filed a lawsuit against the store which they claim improperly installed a battery in an electronic cigarette which exploded and killed him last year.
William Eric Brown died after the Jan. 28, 2019 incident in the parking lot of Smoke and Vape DZ in the 4500 block of Golden Triangle Boulevard.
The lawsuit, filed in Tarrant County District Court, claims a store employee installed the battery and instructed Brown how to use it.
When Brown, 24, fired the “mod,” the battery exploded, causing “fragments to travel through his teeth … and into his neck, which lacerated a major artery,” the lawsuit said.
Brown died two days later, according to the filing.
A man who answered the phone at Smoke and Vape said he was not familiar with the lawsuit but would pass along a request for comment to the store owner, who did not immediately return the call.
The lawsuit claims the battery was defective but did not name the manufacturer as a defendant. The suit also alleges store employees did not warn the battery had an “unreasonable propensity to catch fire and explode under normal use.”
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The lawsuit seeks more than $1 million.
It was filed by Houston attorney Rob Ammons on behalf of two of Brown’s heirs, Lydia Zacarias and Steven Thomas Brown.
