Future Motion Lawsuit Alleges OneWheel Nosedived Suddenly, Throwing Rider to the Ground

Future Motion faces yet another product liability lawsuit over recalled Onewheel electric skateboards, claiming the device “nosedived” suddenly, resulting in injuries that required at trip to the emergency room.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Charles Robert Babbino and his wife, Christina, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on March 12, alleging that Future Motion, Inc. sold an unreasonably dangerous and defective product, without adequately disclosing the serious risks users may face.

Onewheels are electric skateboards that can accelerate to speeds of about 20 miles per hour, while the rider balances on the supposedly self-righting board.

The skateboards are marketed with a feature known as “pushback”, which is supposed to give the rider physical resistance when the scooter is reaching its operational limit. However, some reports indicate that instead of riders just experiencing a little resistance, which could already upset their balance, often the Onewheel stops suddenly, causing the nose to pitch down into ground. The problems are now widely known as OneWheel nosedive accidents, which can leave users with severe and life-altering injuries.

According to the lawsuit, Charles Babbino was riding a Onewheel in December 2021, near his home in Tavares, Florida, when his device nosedived due to defects which later caused the devices to be recalled.

“Plaintiff was riding the Subject OneWheel when, suddenly and without warning, the Subject OneWheel ‘nosedived,’ throwing Plaintiff from the board and causing him to hit the ground with great force,” the lawsuit states. “As a result of being unexpectedly thrown from the Subject OneWheel, Plaintiff suffered substantial injuries.”

He was admitted to the emergency room at Advent Hospital Waterman for treatment of his injuries, the lawsuit indicates.

“The risk of danger associated with designing, manufacturing, distributing, supplying, and selling the Subject OneWheel as it was outweigh any real or perceived benefits,” Babbino’s lawsuit argues. “At the time the Subject OneWheel was designed, manufactured, distributed, supplied, and sold, alternative designs, formulations, and methods of manufacturing existed that would have resulted in a safer and more useful product with little to no increase in cost.”

The lawsuit presents claims of strict liability, negligence and loss of consortium.

March 2024 Onewheel Lawsuits Update

Given common questions of fact and law raised in each of the Future Motion lawsuits now being pursued throughout the federal court system, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided last year to consolidate Onewheel nosedive lawsuits as part of an MDL before U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in the Northern District of California, for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

The Babbinos’ lawsuit will be transferred to Judge Freeman’s court to be included in the ongoing proceedings. However, if the litigation can not be resolved early in the pretrial proceedings, it is likely that Judge Freeman will move forward with a bellwether process, where a small group of representative claims will be prepared for a series of test trials, to help the parties gauge how jurors are likely to respond to expert testimony and evidence likely to be repeated throughout the OneWheel lawsuits.

Following the MDL proceedings, OneWheel nosedive settlement negotiations and any bellwether trials, if the parties are still unable to reach a resolution for the litigation, each claim may be later remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it originated for separate trial dates in the future.

The next case management conference is scheduled for May 9, 2024.