"Amazon can be liable for third-party sellers’ defective products, appeals court rules," 14 Aug 2020

Amazon can be held liable for defective products sold on its Marketplace in California, an appeals court ruled Thursday, which suggests that if you buy a defective third-party product on Amazon, it might be Amazon that’s responsible. The California Fourth District Court of Appeals reversed a 2019 trial court ruling and reinstated claims from a woman who says she suffered third-degree burns when a defective laptop battery she bought from a third-party seller on Amazon caught fire.

The decision could have dire repercussions for Amazon, which has argued for yearsthat it only serves as an intermediary between buyers and its third-party sellers, which Amazon collectively refers to as the “Amazon Marketplace” even though it’s not a distinct place on Amazon....That stance has protected Amazon from liability for Marketplace products, that is, until now. The company is now facing several other lawsuits over defective products in other courts...

An Amazon spokesperson said in an email to The Verge that the company would appeal the decision. “The court’s decision was wrongly decided and is contrary to well-established law in California and around the country that service providers are not liable for third party products they do not make or sell,”...

In its ruling, the appeals court said Amazon was central to the laptop battery sale in Bolger’s case. “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,” the court wrote.