EAST ST. LOUIS – Amazon, defending a wrongful death suit alone after Chinese supplier Global Vasion defaulted, seeks protection from a question about the ability of its customers to obtain compensation for injuries from Chinese suppliers.
Widow Sarah Scott of Nashville asked the question in a deposition notice in February, and Amazon moved for a protective order on April 15.
Amazon counsel Thomas Berra of the Lewis Rice firm in St. Louis called the question irrelevant.
He also resisted questions on solicitation of Chinese sellers, the percentage of Chinese sellers on its U.S. marketplace, and total revenue from Chinese sellers.
District Judge David Dugan presides.
Attorneys Melissa Meirink and Mark Schuver of Mathis Marifian in Belleville sued Global Vasion and Amazon for Scott in December 2020.
They claim she ordered electric socks for husband Floyd Scott on Dec. 8, 2018, as he suffered from painfully cold feet due to diabetes.
Amazon delivered the socks on Dec. 14, 2018.
They claim Floyd fell asleep wearing them and woke to find they burned his leg. He allegedly died as a direct and proximate result of the injury.
Global Vasion and Amazon both retained Berra.
In his answer for Global Vasion he identified it as a California corporation with its principal place of business in Walnut, California.
He claims Floyd used products that Global Vasion didn’t develop, design, manufacture, construct, market, distribute, or sell.
He claims the socks weren’t defective or unreasonably dangerous.
He claims their benefits exceeded any risks.
In March 2021, he moved to withdraw as Global Vasion’s counsel.
“Global Vasion has directed Lewis Rice to stop defending its interests,” Berra wrote.
He also wrote that Global Vasion failed and would fail to fulfill its obligation regarding Lewis Rice’s services.
He attached an exhibit under seal.
Dugan granted Berra’s withdrawal and gave Global Vasion 21 days to replace him.
Global Vision didn’t replace him and Scott moved for entry of default.
The court clerk entered it last April.
Scott moved for default judgment and asked Dugan to hold a hearing on damages at the conclusion of the case.
Dugan granted the motion last August.
This February, Meirink and Schuver notified Berra that they would depose an Amazon representative on 14 topics relating to China.
They limited all topics to three years prior to Floyd’s death.
According to Berra’s motion for protective order, the lawyers resolved disputes over ten of the topics.
Berra brought the other four topics to Dugan, calling them a thinly veiled attempt to inject xenophobia and nationalism into the case.
“Plaintiff seeks to portray Amazon as intentionally filling its online marketplace with products manufactured in China, without regard to consumers’ safety or ability to seek recourse against the Chinese manufacturers,” Berra wrote.
He argued that it could require hundreds of hours to collect the necessary data and prepare a representative to testify, and that Amazon doesn’t track seller specific data from which it could derive the requested information.
Dugan has set trial in May 2023.