McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC Files Lawsuit Against Amazon for Defective Solar Eclipse Glasses

When it comes to retail sales, Amazon is in a class all its own. That is why Thomas Corey Payne and his fiancée Kayla Harris of Charleston, SC turned to us to help them seek justice against Amazon, which sold defective solar eclipse glasses to our clients. Attorney Jay Ward is co-counsel in the class action lawsuit against the retail giant.

About the lawsuit

Payne and Harris purchased their solar eclipse glasses through Amazon. As the Post and Courier reported:

“The [law]suit says Amazon attempted to recall the glasses on Aug. 19 ‘out of an abundance of caution’ via email to purchasers. The company also offered a refund, according to the complaint. Payne and Harris said they never received the recall notification and used the glasses bought from Amazon earlier [that] month to view the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse.”

A few hours after the event, both Payne and Harris started experiencing pain, headaches, watery eyes, blurred vision and light sensitivity, among other symptoms. Both developed dark spots in their lines of vision as well.

The suit seeks compensation and damages, as well as “a judgment that would require Amazon to fund a medical monitoring program for anyone who becomes part of the class-action suit.”

Why Amazon is negligent

The class-action lawsuit is against Amazon, not the manufacturer or the eclipse glasses themselves. Because, as the lawsuit claims, the glasses “were unfit for the purpose for which they were advertised and sold, (and) were extremely dangerous and/or defective” (emphasis ours), Amazon should be held accountable for their deceptive marketing practices – practices which led our clients to believe they were buying a product designed to prevent injuries, not cause them. Furthermore, Amazon was responsible for sending out the recall notices – notices which never made it to Payne and Harris. Had either of them received any notification of a recall, they would not have used the products in the first place. Finally, Amazon failed to identify the vendor who sold the defective glasses when it finally did send out its warnings.

At McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, we have developed a national reputation for handling class action cases against some of the largest companies and insurers in the country, and for our work in defective product litigation, both in class action lawsuits and in individual lawsuits, in state and federal court.

If you live in South Carolina, North Carolina, or anywhere in the U.S., and you sustained an injury because of Amazon’s defective eclipse glasses, you may be eligible for compensation. Please call 803-327-7800, or fill out our contact form, to learn more.