‘Dangerous’ MagSafe Adapter Burns Down House, Insurer Sues Apple

Reports say that Apple's MagSafe charger / adapter used with the company's laptops is the object of a newly filed lawsuit claiming the charger, attached to a 2007 MacBook Pro, caused a major fire at a home in Connecticut.

AppleInsider has learned that the lawsuit was filed last month in a U.S. District Court in Connecticut by Great Northern Insurance Company.

As it happened, Great Northern was forced to fork out over $75,000 and hand the money to the client in question after an accidental fire occurred at the family's home, the Apple-centric blog notes.

Citing lawsuit papers, the report continues to reveal that the blaze, which occurred on May 23, 2008, was caused by the "external system components" of the laptop found in the home, as concluded by the fire marshal of the town of Glastonbury.

"Unbeknownst to [the client], in 2007 and 2008, Apple had received numerous complaints posted on its own Apple store website alerting Apple to heating, burning and sparking problems with its MagSafe adapters," the suit reads, according to the aforementioned source.

"As a result of the aforementioned fire, [the family] sustained severe and extensive damage to their real and personal property and incurred additional living expenses."

With the suit, Great Northern seeks to prove that the MagSafe adapter was "in a defective and unreasonably dangerous condition" not because of the client, but because of Apple.

It argues that Apple "manufactured and sold the MagSafe adapter in a condition that it knew, or should have known, subjected the property of others to foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm."

Multiple reports have indicated in the past that Apple MagSafe adapters are, indeed, prone to getting easily damaged.