OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington’s Supreme Court will decide whether online retailer Amazon can be held liable for suicide deaths linked to products purchased from its platform.

Twenty-eight families have filed lawsuits against Amazon, alleging the company is responsible for the suicide deaths of their teenage and adult children who ingested sodium nitrite bought through the site.

An appeals court dismissed the case last year, but the state Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments.

“Amazon marketed this poison. It sold it, it delivered it to the doorsteps of the people that used it,” said Phil Talmadge, the attorney representing the families.

The legal battle centers on sodium nitrite, a legal chemical commonly used as a food preservative that can be deadly when consumed in large quantiti

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