Following WSJ Exposé, Amazon Hit with Class Action for Allegedly Selling ‘Banned, Unsafe, Mislabeled, Recalled’ Products

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An Illinois consumer is behind a proposed class action lawsuit in which he alleges Amazon.com has endangered the safety and welfare of the public by selling thousands of “banned, unsafe, mislabeled and/or recalled products” on its website.

Citing the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the 12-page case leans heavily on an August 23 Wall Street Journal report, titled “Amazon Has Ceded Control of Its Site. The Result: Thousands of Banned, Unsafe or Mislabeled Product.” The article reportedly revealed that upward of 4,000 products for sale on Amazon.com have been declared unsafe by federal agencies, are deceptively labeled, or are outright banned by federal regulators. Chief among these products, according to the case, are at least 2,000 listings for toys and medications that lack warnings about health risks for children.

The lawsuit notes that the WSJ identified at least 157 items for sale on Amazon.com that the mega-retailer said it banned, including sleeping mats the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have warned can suffocate infants. In fact, of 10 children’s products, many of which were reportedly promoted as “Amazon’s Choice,” purchased on Amazon.com for testing by the WSJ, four failed tests “based on federal safety standards,” the lawsuit says.

Summarizing the WSJ’s findings, the complaint says that based on the publication’s analysis of Amazon listings between May and August 2019 and the findings of a federally certified testing company, there were:

From there the case says the percentage of gross physical merchandise sold on Amazon.com by independent third-party sellers has ballooned from just three percent in 1999 to 58 percent in 2018, becoming crucial to the defendant’s sales revenue.

Per the plaintiff, the case says the man bought Lidocaine Extra Strength Anesthetic from a third-party seller on Amazon.com only to learn the product was recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in November 2018. The plaintiff also says he bought from a third-party Amazon seller Gillette Simply Venus 3 Disposable Razors that were recalled in June 2019.

“Amazon has consistently abused its market power to sell thousands of banned, unsafe, mislabeled and/or recalled products to the unknowing consuming public,” the suit reads.

The lawsuit looks to cover all consumers “having purchased in the State of Illinois or for delivery to any address in Illinois” any recalled products pursuant to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website from September 1, 2016 through September 1, 2019.