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amazon class action lawsuitOn Tuesday, Amazon.com Inc. asked a South Carolina federal judge to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit over the allegedly defective solar eclipse glasses sold by the retailer, arguing that the plaintiffs are bound by an arbitration clause they agreed to when purchasing the glasses.

Plaintiffs Thomas Corey Payne and his fiancée Kayla Harris allege they purchased a three-pack of solar eclipse glasses from Amazon.com on Aug. 1 and used them to view the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21.

According to the Amazon class action lawsuit, they both experienced headaches, temporary vision loss and increased sensitivity hours after viewing the eclipse.

Payne and Harris assert the solar eclipse glasses sold by Amazon were defective and did not provide adequate protection for wearers who purchased them for the sole purpose of viewing the total solar eclipse safely. The safe viewing of a solar eclipse reportedly requires solar filters that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard.

Looking directly at a solar eclipse without sufficiently protective eyewear can cause a condition known as solar retinopathy, a condition in which a person’s retinas suffer permanent damage. Solar retinopathy symptoms may not begin to manifest until several hours after the exposure, according to the Amazon class action lawsuit.

According to the solar eclipse glasses class action lawsuit, Amazon recalled the eclipse viewing glasses by email on Aug. 19 because the company could not confirm that they had been manufactured to meet the ISO 12312-2 standard required for safe viewing of a total solar eclipse. However, at that point the effort was “tragically too little, too late,” Payne and Harris say.

“Notwithstanding Amazon’s woefully inadequate email notification, any and all users of eclipse glasses were subjected to unreasonable and foreseeable risks of severe and permanent eye injury due to the negligence of Amazon,” the Amazon solar eclipse glasses class action lawsuit says.

Payne and Harris claim they did not receive Amazon’s email notification before they used the allegedly defective solar eclipse glasses to view the Aug. 21 eclipse. They filed the Amazon class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and a proposed Class of consumers in the U.S. who purchased unsafe eclipse glasses from Amazon.com prior to Aug. 21, 2017.

Amazon argues that the defective solar eclipse glasses class action lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs agreed to Amazon’s conditions of use, which prohibit class action lawsuits and require all disputes to be arbitrated.

Alternatively, Amazon argues that the solar eclipse glasses class action lawsuit should be stayed pending arbitration.

The plaintiffs are represented by James L. Ward of McGowan Hood & Felder LLC, Jasper D. Ward IV and Ashton Rose Smith of Jones Ward PLC, Steven W. Teppler of Abbott Law Group PA, Kevin S. Hannon of The Hannon Law Firm LLC and Jean Sutton Martin of the Law Office of Jean Sutton Martin PLLC.

The Amazon Defective Solar Eclipse Glasses Class Action Lawsuit is Thomas Corey Payne and Kayla Harris v. Amazon.com Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-02313, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

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