A person in California has sued Amazon in addition to the maker of an electrical bike that he bought on Amazon after he claims that the bike malfunctioned, leading to a crash that left him severely injured.
Based on a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom final week, Robert Lewis suffered catastrophic accidents on December 30, 2024, when the handlebars on his foldable e-bike gave out, inflicting him to fall violently to the bottom. The go well with names each Actbest Know-how Inc., listed as a Los Angeles-based producer, and Amazon.com Inc. as defendants, alleging that each corporations have been negligent in manufacturing and promoting the faulty product.
The incident is the most recent in a rising wave of security issues surrounding low-cost e-bikes bought by way of main on-line marketplaces, the place oversight of product high quality and security warnings will be minimal or nonexistent.
Whereas the go well with doesn’t identify the precise mannequin of e-bike concerned within the crash, Actbest does promote an extremely low-cost $369 folding e-bike.
The grievance accuses Amazon of continuous to promote the bike in query, even after receiving client complaints alleging related defects. “Shoppers of Amazon moderately relied on Amazon’s service to watch product complaints and take away unsafe client merchandise to stop the sale of faulty merchandise,” the lawsuit reads. “Amazon negligently carries out this service by ignoring apparent design, manufacturing and warning defects. They might have been conscious [of the danger] had they really fulfilled the obligations they voluntarily assumed and promised shoppers Amazon would implement.”
The mechanism that failed was apparently the handlebar locking system, which is essential for folding e-bikes to perform safely. Based on the lawsuit, the failure of this method throughout Lewis’s experience prompted the handlebars to break down unexpectedly, leading to a extreme spinal wire harm that has rendered him paraplegic. His household, additionally named as plaintiffs, is in search of compensation for ache and struggling and lack of enjoyment of life.
Lewis’s authorized staff, led by Andrew Parker Felix of Morgan & Morgan, is in search of damages for medical prices, misplaced wages, and punitive damages, pointing to what they describe as a sample of neglect by Amazon in coping with harmful merchandise bought by way of its platform.
“Much like the hoverboard phenomenon up to now,” the lawsuit reads, “the e-bikes distributed by way of and bought by Amazon.com are the most recent instance of Amazon in search of to revenue off of a brand new client product house with full disregard for the security of its subscribers.”
Whereas Amazon has beforehand argued that it acts solely as a gross sales platform for third-party sellers, courts have more and more scrutinized the tech big’s function in product legal responsibility, particularly in instances involving harmful or faulty merchandise. There are instances that might function precedents the place Amazon has been discovered chargeable for injurious merchandise bought on its platform.
This lawsuit might additional take a look at the place that legal responsibility begins and ends, notably in fast-growing client classes like e-bikes, the place regulatory requirements and security enforcement have struggled to maintain tempo with demand.
Neither Amazon nor Actbest has responded publicly to the claims, and particulars in regards to the particular e-bike mannequin concerned haven’t but been disclosed.
As e-bike adoption continues to rise, particularly amongst budget-conscious shoppers in search of inexpensive transport, the case raises deeper questions on how security is – or isn’t – being prioritized in a booming however typically unregulated product house.
through: Law360
