Bentley & More LLP Secures Big Appellate Victory Against Samsung for Minnesota E-Cigarette Explosion

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In the latest salvo on a string of nationwide cases, Bentley & More LLP partners Greg Bentley and Matt Clark achieved a landmark victory in the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which found that Minnesota courts have personal jurisdiction over South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI, Co., Ltd. when its batteries cause devastating injuries to Minnesota residents in connection with the electronic cigarette marketplace. The long-running case stems from the January 7, 2020 explosion of a Samsung 18650 lithium-ion battery—Shawn Peters suffered severe burns when the individual Samsung battery in his left front pocket caught fire, violently expelled chemicals and smoke, and caused second- and third-degree burns to Peters' genitalia, groin, thigh, and hand.

Samsung has long claimed that it should not be subject to personal jurisdiction—and so not subject to suit—in Minnesota, or any state in the country, because it only sells its 18650 lithium-ion batteries to sophisticated entities and manufacturers of other products, such as garden tools, laptops, consumer electronics, and other battery pack devices. However, during the course of jurisdictional discovery, Bentley & More uncovered significant evidence of Samsung's direct, ongoing, and continuous contacts with Minnesota, including that it directly shipped and sold more than 2.9 million of its 18650 batteries to Minnesota manufacturers in the time period when Plaintiff was injured, entered into contracts there that allowed resale "either directly or indirectly" for "personal, family, or household use," and that it even entered choice of law and forum selection provisions that indicated Minnesota was the appropriate venue for disputes regarding its 18650 batteries. Combined with Samsung's knowledge that since at least 2016 it has known its 18650 batteries were being sold at vape stores and online for use with e-cigs, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court, and joined the reasoning of at least the federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Sixth Circuits, in finding that Samsung had purposefully availed itself of the privilege of conducting business in Minnesota, and that Peters' suit related to its extensive contacts with Minnesota. In sum, a "Minnesota court's exercise of personal jurisdiction over SDI comports with notions of fair play and substantial justice." (Opinion, p. 21.) Barring further appellate proceedings, the matter will proceed in the trial court to determine Samsung's liability for the explosion, as well as the amount of damages to compensate for Peters' grievous injuries.

The case is Shawn Peters v. Samsung SDI, Co., Ltd., et al., Court of Appeal Case No. A25-0195, which was briefed and argued by Bentley & More partner Matt Clark. This marks the latest entry in Bentley & More and Greg Bentley's decade-long fight on behalf of consumers who have been injured by these dangerous products, including achieving the first electronic cigarette injury jury verdict in the country in 2015, pushing for regulatory and warning changes to make the products safer for consumers, and litigating hundreds of cases across the country against major battery, component part, and e-cig finished device manufacturers, including LG Chem, Ltd., and Samsung SDI, Co., Ltd.

SOURCE Bentley & More LLP