Ohio Supreme Court hears arguments in Logan Stiner death suit

After hearing arguments Wednesday, the Ohio Supreme Court has taken under advisement the case of a Lorain County family suing Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer, over the death of their son nearly six years ago. In Stiner v. Amazon, the justices will consider whether Amazon.com is a "supplier" for the purposes of state product liability law, for its part in the sale of a now-banned caffeine powder that killed a Keystone High School wrestler. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the justices heard arguments via the internet on Wednesday. Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor said the court would inform the parties of its ruling at a later date. Logan Stiner, 18, died of caffeine toxicity three days prior to his graduation in May 2014, according to the Lorain County Coroner's Office. He had asked a friend to help him find a workout supplement and she gave him the "Hard Rhino" caffeine powder. The Stiner family sued multiple defendants, from the manufacturer Tenkoris to Kelsey Kidd, the friend who gave the powder to Stiner after she bought it on Amazon.com. Attorney Brian Balser, representing Logan Stiner's father Dennis, argued that Amazon.com is a supplier for the purposes of Ohio's product liability laws for a number of reasons. Amazon.com "made the decision to list the product" based on their sales algorithm, he said. "They selected the product." The company also has different controls on its listings like other online retailers including eBay. Amazon has a "Business Solutions Agreement" that outlines its relationship with the seller and dictates every transaction on the website, Balser said. Also, Balser argued, actual possession of the produce is not required to participate in the stream of commerce. Tenkoris was not involved in the sales transaction in which Kidd bought the "Hard Rhino" product. The sale also automatically triggered a notification to the website's safety team, Balser said. "In this case, Amazon, before they selected the product for participation was ... aware just a small amount of this product could kill, would be lethal," he told the justices. Attorney Brendan Murphy, representing Amazon.com and several of its divisions, said the Ohio legislature was clear in 1988 when it wrote the state's product liability law and under what circumstances entities were liable for damages caused by their products. Amazon.com, he said, doesn't qualify under the definition of "supplier," as Balser and the Stiner family argue it does. Amazon.com never touched the product or set the price. That was Tenkoris, Murphy argued. What if the product had been shipped to the U.S. and placed in an Amazon warehouse, Justice Michael Donnelly asked Murphy. "Fulfillment by Amazon is a logistics service," Murphy said. "If possession were the key, that would be an incredibly broad proposition. It has to be more than possession. It can't be just physical possession. That's an over-broad definition." Murphy said Amazon only shipped the powder to Kidd after she placed the order with Tenkoris by searching "preworkout" on Amazon.com. She then provided the powder to Logan Stiner, he said. "Hard Rhino," which was banned by the FDA and by Ohio law after Logan Stiner died, was also sold on eBay and on Tenkoris' website. The company later filed for bankruptcy, justices learned. "Amazon was absolutely not indispensable or crucial or somehow responsible" to the transaction, Murphy argued. Amazon had argued successfully in Lorain County Common Pleas Court and the 9th District Court of Appeals that it did not meet the definition of a supplier or manufacturer of the powder, and it was therefore not liable under Ohio's product liability act. Balser told the court 1,500 orders for "Hard Rhino" were placed through Amazon.com in four years, making up 75 to 80 percent of sales of the caffeine powder in the state. "This product does not get into commerce without Amazon's participation," he argued during a brief rebuttal at the end of the hearing. "As soon as Amazon no longer allowed them to sell this product, Tenkoris had to declare bankruptcy." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.