Everyone know that ‘hoverboards’ – those motorised two-wheeled scooter boards all the cool kids were riding for about three months – are dumb: they tend to catch fire, and they don’t even hover. Earlier this year, though – before their existence became a thing of ridicule – a family from Nashville, Tennessee, lost their $1 million home after a ‘hoverboard’ caught fire and destroyed the property. The Fox family is now suing Amazon – the point of sale for the ‘hoverboard’ – accusing the online retail giant of knowingly selling a dangerous product.
“The Foxes contend that Amazon and its various subsidiaries had information about the danger of this product well in advance of the Jan. 9 fire,” Steve Anderson, representing the Fox family on behalf of Nashville law firm Anderson & Reynolds PLC, said (via 10News), “and on top of that, they had notice, they should have known the product was being misrepresented on their website.”
Brian Cox, father of the family of six, had to rescue two of his children when fire broke out on the second floor of the property.
“The most horrific thing was obviously the episode that day and trying to rescue these two teenagers, and the profound impact on them,” Anderson said. “It’s also important to consider that literally in a matter of few minutes every single personal possession of this entire family was destroyed. The only things that remained were their vehicles and handful of books and pictures they were able to find that had water damage they were able to dry out. In the blink of an eye it was all gone.”
The lawsuit is seeking $30 million in damages, with the possibility of further financial penalties leveled against Amazon to be put to the jury.
