Amazon can be sued over suicides linked to sodium nitrite, Washington Supreme Court rules

By Jonathan Stempel

Feb 19 (Reuters) – The Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that Amazon.com must face lawsuits by families that lost relatives who died by suicide after consuming sodium nitrite they bought from outside vendors on the retailer’s website.

All nine justices rejected a ruling by an intermediate-level appeals court that the families could not sue Amazon for negligence because suicide was a superseding cause of their relatives’ deaths.

Justice G. Helen Whitener wrote that Amazon owed customers a duty of reasonable care, and must avoid exposing them to “harm from the foreseeable conduct of a third party.”

She said a jury should decide whether suicide was a foreseeable result of the Seattle-based retailer’s alleged failure to exercise that duty.

AMAZON DEFENDS SAFETY COMMITMENT

Twenty-eight families have filed lawsuits alleging that Amazon has known for years about the link between sodium nitrite and suicide yet continued to allow unrestricted sales, alongside other products that could assist in suicides. They have labeled these products collectively as “suicide kits.”

The families are seeking unspecified damages from Amazon under a Washington state product liability law for their relatives’ deaths.

Thursday’s decision covered appeals by four of the families, who said they lost relatives ages 17 to 27 who consumed 98% or 99.6% pure sodium nitrite in 2020 and 2021.

Amazon said it disagreed with the decision, and was committed to the safety of all its customers. It expressed condolences to families affected by suicide.

SODIUM NITRITE IS USED AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE 

The case is one of many seeking to hold online sales platforms such as Amazon responsible for products sold by third-party vendors.

“Amazon is one of the world’s biggest companies, and shouldn’t be profiting from products they know people use to harm themselves,” Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer for the families, said in an interview.

Sodium nitrite is a legal chemical often used as a preservative in foods, such as meat and fish. It also can be used in research laboratories, and in the treatment of cyanide poisoning.

In its statement, Amazon said highly concentrated sodium nitrite “is not intended for direct consumption, and unfortunately, like many products, it can be misused.”

Amazon said it now prohibits sales of sodium nitrite with purity levels above 10%.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)