Hoverboard disposal. If I give one away, am I liable for possible damage

M

malinablue

Guest
Jurisdiction
Maryland
I have a question about hoverboard disposal. My husband bought a hoverboard for our kids for xmas. After reading all the stories about hoverboards catching fire and exploding, we decided we did not need to keep one in our home. Amazon refunded us fully for the hoverboard and we planned to take it to the dump. But one of my kid's friends and her parents are begging for us to give or sell the hoverboard to them. They understand why we are getting rid of it and they do not fear the fire hazard as we do. They understand the risk (fire hazard) and still want it. But I am reluctant to give it to them for fear that we may still be liable if they have a fire or someone gets hurt due to it sparking or exploding. I do not know the kid's parents at all, so do not know whether they they would file suit against us if something terrible happened.

Would we be at all liable if something did happen? They could argue we knew it was a hazard and yet gave it to them. But then we could argue that they were aware of the risk, knew why we were disposing of it, and accepted that risk. Should we have them sign something to that effect? I hate to say no and trash it when they want it so badly, but I do not want to be liable if something happens.
 
Yes, you could be liable because it passed through your hands and there's no way of proving that you didn't do something to it. Obviously, there's also no way for anybody to prove that you did but that doesn't stop a lawsuit from being delivered to your door. When that happens your homeowners policy might or might not provide you a defense depending on the circumstances but if the insurance company pays, your rates go up or you might even get non-renewed and a new policy will cost you a lot more.

Getting a waiver is also a risk because the courts routinely don't allow people to sign away their rights and could nullify the waiver, especially since parents don't get to sign away their kids' rights.

Given the danger involved I suggest you dismantle it into several components, destroy or damage each piece so it can't be used again, and toss them separately into dumpsters at separate locations.

Then tell your friends that you had no choice due to the risk. Blame it on your insurance company if you like. Most people will accept that explanation because they don't know anything about insurance. ;)
 
Thank you. That is essentially what I thought. I don't want this thing burning down my house and I don't want it burning down anyone else's house either. The problem I am up against is that others do not feel the boards are as dangerous as I do. While only a tiny fraction of the hoverboards sold have started fires, I feel that ANY risk is unacceptable. The benefit of having the hoverboard is not enough to offset even a minuscule risk of fire or explosion. But others disagree and think I am over-anxious and that the hoverboards are largely safe. I had a hard enough time convincing my kids and husband it had to go.
 
I'm with you. In 2001 only a few people got killed by Firestone tires but the stink was enough to convince me to get rid of mine.

Doesn't matter what others think. You do what you think is best.
 

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