The Washington Supreme Court unanimously ruled that families can pursue negligence claims against Amazon after four people died from ingesting sodium nitrite bought on its platform, reversing a state appeals court decision and reinstating a trial court order that had denied Amazon’s request to dismiss the cases. The justices said key issues—such as foreseeability, the adequacy of warnings, and Amazon’s role in the sales—should be decided by a jury, sending the consolidated lawsuits back toward discovery.
What the high court said
The state’s high court held that suicide is not automatically a “superseding cause” that cuts off liability under Washington’s product-liability law, and it rejected the Court of Appeals’ dismissal. According to Washington State Courts, the justices found the families had alleged enough facts to survive a CR 12(b)(6) motion and returned the cases to the trial court for further proceedings. The opinion restores an earlier order that had allowed negligence claims against Amazon to move ahead.
Families' allegations
The consolidated lawsuits stem from multiple complaints and focus on four young people who died in 2020-21, including teenagers and a 27-year-old, after ingesting industrial-grade sodium nitrite they allegedly obtained through Amazon. As reported by KOMO News, the complaints say Amazon’s listings did not just sell the chemical but also recommended related items such as a small scale, an anti-emetic and a handbook that discusses lethal salts, while offering no effective age checks or prominent warnings. The families also cite customer complaints, poison-control data and a 2021 FDA letter as evidence that Amazon had notice of the growing danger.
Amazon's response
In a statement quoted by KOMO News, an Amazon spokesperson said the company “extends our deepest condolences” and that “customer safety is a top priority at Amazon.” The statement notes that Amazon restricted high-concentration sodium nitrite sales to business buyers in October 2022 and now prohibits sales of sodium nitrite in concentrations greater than 10 percent, while also making clear the company disagrees with the court’s ruling.
Legal significance
The opinion is notable because it rejects a bright-line rule that suicide always breaks the chain of causation in product cases. Instead, the justices said foreseeability and causation are often questions for fact-finders, not something to be decided on the pleadings. The court and a separate concurrence pointed to potential theories the plaintiffs may pursue, including negligent entrustment and failure to warn, if they can prove the underlying facts at trial. Those legal questions, the court said, are not appropriate to resolve on a motion to dismiss, where the complaint’s allegations must be taken as true. According to Washington State Courts, whether Amazon’s conduct was a proximate cause of the deaths will be decided later in the case.
State law and policy context
Seattle-area lawmakers and advocates had already begun pushing for tighter rules. Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Tyler’s Law in April 2025, restricting consumer sales of products containing more than 10 percent sodium nitrite and creating labeling and recordkeeping requirements. The Seattle Times and other outlets reported the state action in the wake of a series of fatalities and a wave of lawsuits targeting Amazon. At the federal level, Congress has weighed a Youth Poisoning Protection Act that would ban consumer sales of high-concentration sodium nitrite, according to Congress.gov.
Public health backdrop
Public-health researchers say sodium nitrite ingestion has emerged as a concerning suicide method and that deaths involving the chemical have climbed in recent years. A CDC-supported analysis identified hundreds of U.S. suicides involving antidotes and chelating agents, including nitrites, between 2018 and mid-2023 and concluded that the numbers are rising; see CDC. Medical literature notes an estimated adult lethal dose in the range of a few grams, commonly cited around 2.6 grams, with some reported fatalities at lower amounts, underscoring how little is needed to be deadly; see clinical case reports at PMC.
What’s next
The Supreme Court’s decision sends the combined lawsuits back to the trial court, where the families will seek discovery on Amazon’s listings, recommendation algorithms and internal awareness of the risks. Amazon will still have opportunities to raise defenses and present evidence that its warnings or other safety steps were sufficient, but the path to a jury is now open in Washington. Observers have noted that the ruling could shape similar cases around the country and will be closely watched by retailers and lawmakers alike, according to reporting by Reuters.
