This article is more than 1 year old

Couple fires sueball at Amazon over faulty solar eclipse-viewing goggles

Complaint states Bezos' empire did 'too little, too late'

A couple has sued Amazon in the US for allegedly selling them and others faulty solar eclipse glasses that damaged their eyesight.

Plaintiffs Corey Payne and Kayla Harris filed a class-action lawsuit in South Carolina's federal court on Tuesday.

A total solar eclipse fell on the US on August 21 and retailers including Amazon were inundated with orders for glasses that supposedly offered protection from the Sun's harmful rays. The problem was that some of these specs did not meet international safety standards and, to the chagrin of compliant businesses, Amazon began "proactively" recalling an undisclosed quantity some time before the eclipse.

The lawsuit alleges that the couple – and perhaps others – were never notified of a recall and sustained eye damage for faulty glasses they purchased on Amazon.com.

According to the complaint, Payne ordered a three-pack of eclipse glasses on August 1, receiving them two days later. Expecting them to work as adequate protection, he and Harris wore them on August 21 to watch the solar eclipse.

They say they experienced pain, discomfort, headaches and eye watering "later that day".

"Thereafter, both Plaintiffs began to see dark spots in their line of vision, suffered vision impairment, including blurriness, a central blind spot, increased sensitivity, changes in perception of color, and distorted vision," the complaint states.

Representing others that may also be affected, they are requesting money for damages, the profits Amazon.com made on the sale of eclipse glasses and a medical monitoring programme.

The suit claims that Amazon was negligent in its sale and marketing of eclipse glasses that did not meet safety standards and other customers, who may have received a recall notice in some cases, did not have enough time to realise their glasses were defective.

Amazon declined to comment. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like