Nintendo Gets Sued for Burning Down a House

Gaming companies are often blamed for quite a lot of things, such as patent infringements or intellectual theft but every once in a while, people or institutions find the weirdest claims against these corporations. We recently saw two people file class-action suits against Electronic Arts, claiming that the SecuROM DRM (Digital Rights Management) software, incorporated into the popular Spore game, harmed their computers.

Although nothing was heard since then about those trials, it now seems that another company is brought to court, Nintendo. The gaming giant is sued by a Kentucky insurance company claiming that, because of a Nintendo DS power adapter that overheated, the house of one of its clients burned down. As it offered compensation to its client, the company, Liberty Mutual, is now trying to recuperate its loss by suing the Japanese corporation for 236,304 dollars.

“The DS was defective in design, manufacture and/or because it failed to warn consumers as to dangers associated with it... due to defects existing within the Product which caused a risk of overheating and fire, the Product was recalled by Nintendo,” read the official complaint made by Liberty Mutual against Nintendo.

The recall that the insurance company is mentioning, occurred in Japan only, and was subject to 200,000 DS Lites being called back to the plant due to some problems in the manufacturing process, not specifically because of the adapter that overheated. 

Although the trial does seem a bit weird, no official statement has been made by Nintendo, yet, we might see one in the near future. Until then, old DS owners might need to be a bit careful with their adapters. Have you ever experienced any problem with your DS? Let us know in the comment section below.