South Carolina couple sues Amazon over eclipse glasses
Corey Payne and Kayla Harris say they suffered injury to their eyes after using eclipse glasses they bought through Amazon to view the total eclipse of the sun on August 21, 2017.
In a suit filed on August 29 in the US District Court in Charleston, the couple acknowledged that Amazon tried to recall the glasses sold to its customers, but said “Amazon’s August 19, 2017 email ‘recall’ was tragically too little, too late.” Besides, they did not receive the Amazon recall email, they contend.
Payne bought a three-pack of eclipse-viewing glasses for Harris, his fiance, and himself, through Amazon around August 1st. They arrived at his Charleston, SC, home on August 3, the court document states.
After watching the total eclipse from Charleston, the last location in the continental United States for viewing the total eclipse on August 21, they started to experience symptoms of eye damage including pain, headache and watering of their eyes, followed later by seeing dark spots in their line of vision, blurriness, a central blind spot, increased sensitivity, changes in perception of color and distorted vision, the suit claims.
The suit faults Amazon for selling products they should have known did not meet the requirements for safe eclipse viewing and for not adequately warning customers about the product deficiencies. The suit charges Amazon with among other things negligence, negligent failure to warn, breach of warranty, unjust enrichment for profiting from the sales, deceptive trade practices, and violation of SC and other state consumer protection statutes.
The Charleston couple wants Amazon to refund the money paid for their glasses and to compensate them for any medical expenses, lost wages and any other losses past and future caused by use of the eclipse glasses.
Payne and Harris are claiming class action status of their lawsuit arguing that Amazon customers nationwide may have suffered damages from the company’s actions.
Asked for comment about the lawsuit, an Amazon representative sent an email that stated: “We do not comment on litigation.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 4:33 PM with the headline "South Carolina couple sues Amazon over eclipse glasses."