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Amazon Sold Eclipse Glasses That Cause 'Permanent Blindness,' Alleges Lawsuit (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A South Carolina couple claims in a proposed federal class-action lawsuit (PDF) that Amazon sold defective eclipse-watching glasses that partially blinded them during the historic coast-to-coast solar eclipse on August 21. Corey Payne and fiance Kayla Harris say in their lawsuit that because of the eyewear Payne purchased from Amazon, the couple is now suffering from "blurriness, a central blind spot, increased sensitivity, changes in perception of color, and distorted vision." Amazon issued a recall of defective and perhaps counterfeit eclipse eyewear in an e-mail sent out to customers before the event. Payne said he did not receive the message. His suit seeks to represent others who were injured or may be injured from the eyewear purchased on Amazon. The alleged Tennessee-based maker of the glasses, American Paper Optics, is not named in the suit. The suit seeks funds "for medical monitoring" because "Plaintiffs and members of the proposed class have or will experience varying degrees of eye injury ranging from temporary discomfort to permanent blindness." The suit also demands unspecified monetary damages, punitive damages, and legal fees and costs.
...the glasses didn't so much cause permanent blindness as they merely failed to prevent permanent blindness.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
I bought a package of the glasses from Amazon (third party was Beemo) and got the email about a week before saying "Don't use them! Amazon has not received confirmation from the supplier of your order that they sourced the item from a recommended manufacturer."
They seemed adequately dark. The sun (from a brief glance) was a dim orange sphere, and nothing else can be seen through them.
I did go ahead and get a pair of the real deal glasses. They had a metallic look to them that the Beemo ones did not, but the sun looked the same through them. I suppose the arguably fake ones might be passing UV that the real ones don't.
Either way, I didn't stare at the sun for minutes through the legit ones, either, just a quick look every now and then.
I suspect some of this may be a paperwork issue rather than a real one, though there were apparently some really bad fakes that I haven't run across.
Contract law says your primary claim is with the person or company you have a contract with. The customer has a contract with Amazon: customer pays Amazon, Amazon ships glasses that it has promised are safe for viewing the eclipse. Under traditional common law, the doctrine of privity said that the customer had the right to sue Amazon for breach of contract, but could not sue the manufacturer because there was no contractual relationship between the customer and Amazon (see, e.g., Winterbottom v. Wright). As to Amazon, under traditional common law Hawkins v. McGee established that Amazon is liable for the full value of its failure to deliver on the promises it made in the sales contract.
This changed with the tort and liability revolution of the mid-20th century, but it's important to remember that if we reversed that expansion of tort and liability law, then we would go back to where the customer could sue Amazon but not the manufacturer.