[wahern]

At least in California they are liable in tort: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/another-court-gets-hove...

> California’s Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District) determined that Amazon could be held strictly liable for injuries a consumer suffered from a defective hoverboard she bought from the retailer, even though Amazon neither manufactured nor sold the product.

> The plaintiff in this latest case, Kisha Loomis, bought a hoverboard through the Amazon marketplace. The Amazon marketplace carries both products sold by Amazon and by third parties. In this case, the hoverboard was sold by a Chinese company called SMILETO.

> The Court of Appeal... [held] that a party who has control over and is integral to the chain of commerce, and receives a financial benefit from it, is strictly liable for injury caused by a product’s defects.

[Animats]

Oh, that's important, and new. Here's the actual decision in Loomis vs. Amazon.[1] Amazon has been fighting that case since 2016, and last April, they lost at the appellate level in California. But the plaintiff hasn't won damages yet; the case will now be sent back to the LA Superior Court where discovery will continue; a trial date is expected to be set in 2022.

So, in California, you can now make product liability claims against Amazon, despite their terms and conditions.

[1] https://cases.justia.com/static/pdf-js/web/?file=/california...

[jimmaswell]

So Wal Mart is liable for defective products in California too?

[wahern]

Yes, ever since the 1960s, actually. In fact, California was the first state[1] to adopt strict product liability. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_liability#Landmark_leg... Most U.S. states and many other countries have since adopted California's regime. So California courts extending their common law strict product liability doctrine to encompass Amazon's marketplace is quite a noteworthy precedent.

[1] And the first jurisdiction globally, I think.

[jimmaswell]

Sounds like a big risk reselling anything with any potential to go wrong in California, or at least insurance premiums will be very high.

[wahern]

Not just in California, but in most of the U.S. and E.U.

But if you weren't yourself negligent, you can recover your losses from an upstream supplier. In practice it's manufacturers or importers who bear most of the insurance cost.

The whole point of the doctrine is that someone injured by a faulty product shouldn't have to hunt down the negligent party, who may have chosen to sell through a byzantine supply chain in order to protect themselves. Similarly, a downstream seller shouldn't be free to benefit from such an arrangement, either. IOW, retailers and other sellers should (and because of strict product liability do) have some responsibility to choose their suppliers wisely.

Note that at least conceptually strict liability lessens the need for centralized product regulation. By making recovery for actual damages more efficient, there's less need for government to try to prevent negligence beforehand. And at least in theory that makes it easier for industry to innovate--to take calculated risks. Alas, the U.S. doesn't embrace this potential as well as it could.

[Dracophoenix]

What counts as a supplier as far as California is considered? If someone sells a non-functional piece of equipment via Ebay, how does that work? Unlike Amazon ,which some argue is closer to a store, Ebay is an open market where you're buying the product as is and not as an SKU. When does caveat emptor become a consideration?

[wahern]

Strict product liability usually only applies to commercial sellers. That doesn't directly answer your question, but suffice it to say there are bodies of law that exist to answer that question. It's certainly not a new question as flea markets, garage sales, charity drives, and many other situations long predate Amazon and eBay.

[throwawayboise]

They would likely just need to show "reasonable and prudent" attention to what they are selling. Electrical appliances UL listed, that sort of thing. Selling mainstream brands and not nameless Chinese products is another layer of defense. IANAL.