Family Sues Amazon After Counterfeit Hoverboard Catches Fire, Destroys Home (wtsp.com)

Three weeks after unboxing a hoverboard, it burst into flames. But is Amazon partly to blame? tripleevenfall quotes The Tennessean: A Nashville family whose $1 million home was destroyed earlier this year in a fire caused by a hoverboard toy is suing Amazon saying the retail giant knowingly sold a dangerous product... The lawsuit says the seller of the hoverboard listed online, "W-Deals," is a sham organization that is registered to an apartment in New York City that has not responded to requests from lawyers in the case. It alleges the family was sold a counterfeit product from China instead of a brand with a Samsung lithium ion battery they believed they were buying from Amazon . It says Tennessee product liability law holds a seller responsible if the manufacturer cannot be found.

Comments

It never does

[rsilvergun]

Insurance companies fight you tooth and nail, often for years. Especially on a big payout like a burnt down house. Every year they delay inflation bites into the payout and you get more desperate to take whatever they'll give.

Re:It never does

[AK Marc]

My insurance covers temporary relocation, and has limits on contents. So if I wanted to relocate 1 year for the house to be torn down and re-built right, I'd have to pay for 9 months or so of accommodation. And the contents would be replaced to the insurance company's satisfaction, not mine. And I'd be paying for the deductible, and possibly have other limits on the policy.

Plus, if I sue, I can recover the sentimental value of the items I have that were hand crafted by my great grandparents back in the day where if you wanted to sit down, you made a chair, or sat on the ground, a feeling known in the modern era by those who must build the IKEA chair if they wish to sit. Plus, everyone sues for "mental harm", hoping to get a $300M judgment.

Re:Except

[sexconker]

Amazon lists it on their storefront. Amazon handles the financial transaction. Amazon profits off of each sale. Amazon often ships the thing out to you even if it's a third party. Amazon is supposed to vet the 3rd parties they work with. Amazon is on the hook.

Re:Except

[AK Marc]

The grocery store wasn't the seller. Nestle was the seller of the chocolate bar I ate.

Nope, law almost universally agrees, the person you give the money to in order to get the item is the seller. Note, you don't pay eBay for your wins (not including any 3rd party payment services owned by eBay). eBay connects you with a seller, not doesn't directly take payment and dispatch the item, as Amazon (and you supermarket) does.

Amazon should not allow 3rd party sellers, plain and simple

Not without some vetting, or for limited products (like self-published books).

They are not hoverboards

[Stan92057]

They are not hoverboards they do not hover what so ever that ride on wheels firmly planted on the ground. Call them motorized skateboards, that more closer to what they actually are.