July 15, 2019

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled against Amazon.com Inc. in a case that could expose Amazon and other online retailers to lawsuits from customers who purchase defective products from third-party vendors from their websites. The case is Oberdorf v. Amazon.com Inc., No. 18-1041, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 19982 (3^rd Cir. July 3, 2019).

In 2015, the plaintiff, Heather Oberdorf, returned home from work, put a retractable leash on the dog, and took the dog for a walk. The dog unexpectedly lunged, causing the D-ring on the collar to break and the leash to recoil back and hit Oberdorf's face and glasses. She was permanently blinded in her left eye as a result of this incident. Oberdorf had purchased the collar on Amazon.com. Neither Amazon, nor Oberderf has been able to locate a representative of The Furry Gang, the third-party vendor, which has not had an active account on Amazon.com since May 2016. The Oberdorf's sued Amazon.com, including claims for strict products liability and negligence. The District Court found that, under Pennsylvania law, Amazon was not liable for the injuries Oberdorf suffered. The District Court emphasized that the third-party vendor, as opposed to Amazon itself, listed the collar on the Amazon website and shipped the collar directly to Oberdorf, and found that Amazon is not subject to strict products liability claims as they are not the “seller” under Pennsylvania law, and that the claims of the Oberdorf's are barred by the Communications Decency Act because she seeks to hold Amazon liable for its role as the online publisher of the third-party content.