This will be a court case to watch - from Ars Technica:
Hoverboard catches fire, destroys family’s $1M home—they sue Amazon
A Nashville couple whose home burned down after a hoverboard caught fire has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.
Brian and Megan Fox bought a hoverboard for their children for Christmas last year. It burst into flames on January 9. The fire destroyed "virtually all their personal belonging in a manner of minutes," and nearly killed their 16-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son, according to the couple's complaint (PDF).
The offending hoverboard was purchased through an Amazon marketplace store called "W-Deals" and was supposed to contain an "original Samsung advanced battery," but it allegedly didn't. The Foxes say W-Deals is a sham entity with a registered address of an apartment building in Brooklyn, New York. Inquiries sent to the address weren't responded to.
The Tennessean interviewed the couple's lawyer, who said that Tennessee's product liability law holds the seller responsible in situations in which the manufacturer can't be found.
"We've spent months investigating it, and to this day, I don't know who manufactured this product, and it doesn't appear that Amazon does," attorney Steve Anderson told the newspaper. It was Amazon that charged the Foxes, and shipped the product.
The suit seeks $30 million in damages. The Foxes claim they lost $1.9 million in direct property loss in the form of their house and belongings, and they're also seeking compensation for injuries and emotional distress.
And of course:
Hoverboards, which are really self-balancing scooters, were a hot gift item last year, but they've been plagued by complaints since then. In July, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled about 500,000 hoverboards from the US market. Amazon and Target both suspended hoverboard sales in July.
I would not mind getting a Segway scooter or an electric motorcycle for tooling around my neighborhood and going out for coffee - that would be fun. Hoverboards hold no interest to me - too much battery power in too small an area plus the learning curve is very steep - just watch FailArmy to see what I mean.
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