Illinois Family Suing Microsoft and Wal-Mart for Xbox 360 Fire

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Posted May 30, 2007, 5:21 PM ET

Microsoft and Wal-Mart are facing a lawsuit after an Illinois infant died in fire reportedly started by their Xbox 360.

Microsoft Corp. and Wal-Mart are facing a lawsuit in the face of the death of an infant in Illinois. Reports are that the fire in the family home was started by an Xbox 360 power supply that overheated to the extreme. The machine was purchased at Wal-Mart which is why it is being named in the suit. The suit was filed by Wade Kline's estate and seeks unspecified damages in excess of $50,000.

The lawsuit reports that the Xbox 360 was plugged into a standard electrical outlet and that the wiring connected to the Xbox 360 became so hot that is started a "catastrophic" fire at a house in Warsaw, Illionis. The victim, an infant named Wade Kline, died in the inferno. The suit claims that the fire was a direct and proximate result of the overheating of the game's power supply and wiring. The suit also named an "unnamed power-supply maker" as also at fault.

This not the first time that the Xbox has been thought to have caused a dangerous fire, according to media reports. In 2005, a UK woman was pulled unconscious from a blaze reportedly sparked by an overheated Xbox system.

2 or 3 years ago Microsoft set up a hotline for Xbox owners to swap their power cords for a new one with a thermal cutoff. In fact, we got one for our Xbox which we bought at Gamestop about a year after the problem surfaced. (Apparently Gamestop had a lot of Xboxes in stock with the old power cord) But after all that, it's a surprise Microsoft is having fire risk problems with the Xbox 360 too?