Recourse for Defects and Deception: A Multifactor Duty Test for Online Platforms

Authors

Edward J. Janger
Aaron D. Twerski

Abstract

Amazon is the world’s largest platform for consumer retail sales. It plays a crucial role in matching buyers and sellers and consummating their transactions. It has, for the most part, escaped tort liability for harm caused by defective products sold by third-party vendors on its website. The majority of cases have held Amazon immune from suit because Amazon did not take title to the goods. It was not formally a seller despite the fact that it controls every aspect of the sale from receiving the order, (often) warehousing and shipping the goods, and collecting payment. This formal approach creates a broad immunity from liability, without considering tort principles of accountability. The authors consider various approaches to determining the scope of tort duty and develop a multi-factor test for imposing tort duty that would give Amazon appropriate incentives to assure its customers receive accurate information and have recourse for defective products while allowing courts to differentiate Amazon from lesser online platforms.

Repository Citation

Edward J. Janger and Aaron D. Twerski, Recourse for Defects and Deception: A Multifactor Duty Test for Online Platforms, 108 Marq. L. Rev. 1 (2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr/vol108/iss1/3