Amazon Avoids Marketplace ‘Seller’ Label Under Illinois Law

Great Northern Insurance Co. is unable to hold Amazon.com Inc. responsible under Illinois law for $3.8 million in fire damage allegedly caused by a pair of defective hoverboards sold on its web marketplace because Amazon never took possession of the products, a federal court in the state ruled.

And Great Northern didn’t adequately argue for an alternative way to hold Amazon strictly liable even though it was outside the chain of distribution, Judge Gary Feinerman said Tuesday for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Amazon also can’t be liable for alleged misrepresentations that the hoverboards contained ...