Cell phone user sues over charger after eye is blinded

How much is an eye worth?

A Knotts Island woman who claims a cell phone charger cord blinded her in one eye thinks it should be $15 million, according to a federal lawsuit she filed this week against Motorola and Nextel.

Valerie McIndoe, who lives on the North Carolina side of the island, says in the suit that she bought a Motorola cell phone from a Nextel Web site in 2005.

On Sept. 7 that year, while she was using the phone, "the coil cord of the car charger suddenly, precipitously and without warning, recoiled and otherwise snapped back, striking at and into the plaintiff's face and eye, hitting her in the right eye with the phone jack," the lawsuit says.

She says in the court papers that this was caused by the wrongful, negligent and careless design of the phone and charger by Motorola and Nextel.

The suit says that the packaging of the phone and charger should have included warnings that "serious injury could result from the use of such car chargers" and that "safety glasses should be worn when using such car chargers."

The warnings should also indicate that "a tight hold should always be kept on the car charger cord to avoid injury," the suit states.

McIndoe says in the suit that she was blinded in her right eye after being struck by the phone jack and suffered other physical pain and mental anguish as a result.

She could not be reached for comment. The only phone number found for her had been disconnected. Her attorney, Andrew Sacks of Norfolk, was unavailable Thursday.

Carl Gray, an attorney for Motorola and Nextel, did not return a call for comment. The companies had not responded to the suit as of Thursday.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com