Former owners of the Galaxy Note 7 in the US have launched a class-action lawsuit against Samsung claiming "economic injuries" suffered by the recall.

The lawsuit, which comes a week after Samsung officially recalled the Note 7 and ended production worldwide, has been filed in New Jersey by law firm McCuneWright representing three plaintiffs: John Waudby, Robert Spuntak and Mohamad Ibrahim.

The plaintiffs aren't going after Samsung because of physical damage caused by the fiery smartphone, but instead allege "economic injuries" amid claims that Note 7 owners have incurred "millions of dollars in fees" as a result of Samsung's mishandling of the situation.

The lawsuit reads: "Following Samsung's advice, customers discontinued using their Note 7s only to find out that Samsung did not have replacement smartphones available. Instead, Samsung informed consumers that they would have to wait several days, and even weeks in many cases.

"During this time, and as a result of Defendant failing to provide consumers with an adequate replacement, consumers continued to incur monthly device and plan charges from their carriers for phones they could not safely use."

Rich McCune, one of the lawyers in the case, told Motherboard: "Samsung has agreed to recall and reimburse the cost of the device, but their customers have had to continue to pay on their data and voice plans during the time they had to make their device inoperative until they received their replacement device. That is the loss that the case is focused on.”

V3.co.uk