A couple in Tennessee is suing Amazon after a hoverboard they bought via the site started a fire that burned down their $1 million house in January. Brian and Megan Fox say Amazon knowingly sold a dangerous product.
A lawyer for the family, Steve Anderson, spoke to the Tennessean: “The Foxes contend that Amazon and its various subsidiaries had information about the danger of this product well in advance of the January 9 fire, and on top of that, they had notice, they should have known the product was being misrepresented on their website.”
The Foxes’ complaint said Megan Fox bought the hoverboard for $274.79 in November 2015 and gave it to the couple’s son on Christmas. It also said that according to the description online, the toy was supposed to contain an “original Samsung advanced battery,” but did not.
The Tennessean reported:
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.
“We’ve spent months investigating it and to this day I don’t know who manufactured this product, and it doesn’t appear that Amazon does,” Anderson said. He said Amazon charged and shipped the hoverboard.
No one was burned in the fire, though two of the couple’s four children had to escape from the burning house and suffered injuries, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit is seeking $30 million in damages.
