Amazon Can Be Held Liable For Faulty Third-Party Products

Amazon is home to many, many products. Some of the products are sold by Amazon themselves, while others are sold by third-party retailers. So if the product you bought through Amazon from a third-party retailer is faulty or defective, who do you turn to? As it turns out, you can actually turn to Amazon.

This is based on a recent ruling by a California state appeals court who claims that Amazon can be held liable for any damages or injuries that you as the consumer could suffer from, even if you bought a product off Amazon’s third-party marketplace. This is according to a lawsuit that Angela Bolger brought against Amazon when she bought a laptop battery from an Amazon seller.

The San Diego Superior Court had previously ruled that Amazon could not be held liable as they only acted as a service provided, but the appeals court is begging to disagree. They claim that Amazon cannot be shielded from liability as part of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which says that online platforms cannot be held responsible for what users post.

According to the court, “Whatever term we use to describe Amazon’s role, be it ‘retailer,’ ‘distributor,’ or merely ‘facilitator,’ it was pivotal in bringing the product here to the consumer. Under established principles of strict liability, Amazon should be held liable if a product sold through its website turns out to be defective.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Amazon, Legal