A bidet flooded a Meridian woman’s home. State Farm paid $137K. Now this

Two large U.S. corporations are heading to court in Ada County over a bathroom bidet that flooded a Meridian woman’s home.

It all started when she bought the bidet on Amazon.

State Farm, her home insurer, is suing Amazon and Ottolives, a foreign manufacturer of bidets, accusing Amazon of knowingly marketing and selling Meridian resident Leah Hart a faulty handheld bidet sprayer that caused costly water damage to her house on Blue Creek Court in May 2023.

Hart was insured by State Farm when the bidet allegedly failed. The insurer paid over $137,000 to Hart for the incident. It’s suing Amazon and Ottolives, which designed and assembled the bidet, for the same amount, plus litigation costs.

The lawsuit alleges that the product was not fit for ordinary use. It claims that both companies were negligent in selling an unsafe product and failing to adequately notify consumers about the potential defect.

State Farm and its attorney on the case did not respond to requests for comment. Hart also did not respond to an email or phone call from the Statesman about the lawsuit. An Amazon spokesperson said the company would get back to a Statesman reporter seeking comment but hadn’t as of publication.

Ottolives is a trademark whose owner is in Guangdong province, China, according to trademark records. Efforts to reach the owner through an email address the Statesman found in one record were not immediately successful.

State Farm said the companies knew, or should have known, that the bidet sprayer, which Hart installed on her toilet, was “unreasonably dangerous, posing a substantial and unjustifiable risk of failing.” It accused Ottolives and Amazon of strict product liability, breach of warranty and negligence.

The product, which comes with an installation kit, is currently unavailable on Amazon’s website. It has over 1,000 ratings and 4.1 stars.

“The handheld bidet sprayer has two water pressure modes, jet spray and soft spray modes,” the product descriptions says. “Control the water pressure for a gentle and thorough clean up.”

The bidet includes a hose with an inner tube and stainless steel casing to prevent leakage, according to the description, which touts “exquisite workmanship.” Ottolives says its bidet takes about 10 minutes to install and that “no plumbers are required.” Customers don’t need to worry about corrosion or leaking, it says.

Some of the reviews report that the bidet won’t fit certain toilets without modifications. Others say their bidet broke and caused water damage to wood floors, carpet and walls.

“Looks like this product is not reliable and should not be sold,” said one customer.

The lawsuit from State Farm says it cost nearly $65,000 to repair the water damage to Hart’s home. It also says she incurred about $52,000 in mitigation damages and over $20,000 in additional living expenses.

No court date has been scheduled yet.

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