Amazon ‘Seller’ Liability Issue Sent to Texas Supreme Court (1)

The Texas Supreme Court should decide Amazon.com Inc.‘s liability for defective products sold on its web marketplace under state law, the Fifth Circuit said Friday in a child-injury case.

The “mechanics of Amazon’s business model are novel,” the statutory language is broad, prior Texas cases aren’t on point, and appellate decisions involving Amazon elsewhere “are also unhelpful, given the differences in state laws and facts,” Judge Don Willett said for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

“By any measure, this case hits the certification bull’s-eye,” he said.

Amazon asked the Fifth Circuit to overturn a lower ...