Judge Rejects Renewing Suit Over Lethal Chemical Sold on Amazon

The parents of two teens who died by suicide after consuming a chemical purchased on Amazon.com Inc.‘s online market place won’t get a another shot at their now-dismissed federal lawsuit seeking to hold the tech giant liable for the deaths.

Seattle-based US District Judge James Robart denied the parents’ request to amend their complaint on Aug. 25 after he dismissed the product liability suit earlier this year. The company still faces a similar lawsuit in Washington state court over the sale of the same legal chemical, sodium nitrite.

The federal suit said the two teenagers—16 and 17 at the time of their deaths—had purchased sodium nitrite manufactured and sold by Loudwolf Inc. on Amazon and intentionally consumed the chemical. Amazon had received dozens of notices since 2018 saying that sodium nitrite was being used for suicides and it is a “recommended suicide method” on the pro-suicide website Sanction Suicide, the complaint alleged.

The suit is among a crop of cases filed around the country attempting to hold Amazon accountable for allowing the sale of products known to be used for suicide or other harms. The Ohio Supreme Court found that Amazon wasn’t liable for a teenager’s death from caffeine powder sold on its website, while California appeals courts have found the company can be liable for defective products such as a hoverboard and laptop battery.

Robart, writing for the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, granted Amazon’s motion to dismiss in late June, finding that the online marketplace can’t be held liable as a seller under the Washington Product Liability Act.

In his Aug. 25 ruling, Robart denied the parents’ request to amend the complaint because his original ruling didn’t commit an manifest error of law or fact and new evidence didn’t justify an amendment.

Robart said the plaintiffs failed to show that sodium nitrite was a defective product, which is needed to show seller negligence. He also said he correctly found the plaintiffs’ claims that Amazon intentional concealed information about the chemical’s harm by removing product reviews was shielded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

New evidence allegedly showing a mother telling an Amazon customer service representative that her son purchased sodium nitrate to end his life “does not introduce information that could not have been ascertained from the first amended complaint,” the judge said. The same goes for the US Surgeon General’s advisory on the rise of teen mental health challenges, Robart said.

CA Goldberg PLLC and Corrie Yackulic Law Firm PLLC represent the parents. Perkins Coie LLP represents Amazon.

The case is McCarthy v. Amazon.com Inc., W.D. Wash., No. 2:23-cv-00263, 8/25/23.

If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. You can also reach a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

To contact the reporter on this story: Isaiah Poritz in Washington at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Arkin at [email protected]; Adam M. Taylor at [email protected]

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