Exploding iPad Caused Fatal Parsippany Fire, Lawsuit Claims

PARSIPPANY, NJ — An iPad battery that caught fire is to blame for an apartment complex fire that killed a Parsippany man two years ago, his daughter claims in a lawsuit filed against Apple this week.

Bradley Ireland, 64, was killed in an early morning apartment complex in February 2017. A lawsuit filed in federal court by his daughter, Julia Ireland Meo, says that defects in the iPad's battery pack directly led to her father's death.

According to the lawsuit, the battery defects and the updates available made the iPad "unreasonably dangerous."

The lawsuit asks for a jury trial and unspecified damages. A representative for Apple did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

At the time of the fire in 2017, Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp said the fire likely started near an "electrical appliance" in the kitchen. He said that the fire was not criminal in nature.

In addition to killing Ireland, the fire also displaced other residents of the Colonial Heights Apartment complex building.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)