Amazon’s Duty to Customers Under Microscope in Teen Suicide Case

What duties Amazon.com Inc. owes to customers who used products they bought from it for suicide were the focus of oral arguments Tuesday before the Washington Supreme Court.

The families of teens who died by suicide after ingesting industrial strength sodium nitrite purchased on Amazon argued that the company could be liable even though the teens’ actions were superseding causes in their deaths. The petitioners pleaded simple negligence theories that were dismissed too early in the proceedings, they told the justices.

Suicide by sodium nitrite has risen sharply since 2018, and its misuse has drawn the attention of members of ...