OneWheel XR Lawsuit Filed After Electric Skateboard Stopped Suddenly, Throwing Rider to the Ground

A North Carolina man has filed a product liability lawsuit after suffering a broken wrist and severe road rash when his OneWheel electric skateboard stopped suddenly, throwing him off the device while traveling about 15 miles per hour.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Bobby Ogan in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on November 2, indicating that Future Motion, Inc. sold a defective transportation device, which contained faulty systems that make the OneWheel XR skateboard unreasonably dangerous.

Ogan purchased his first Onewheel in October 2018, and eventually purchased one of every model, until sometime in 2021. In April of that year, Ogan was traveling at about 15 miles per hour on his Onewheel XR, when he was ejected from the device and thrown onto a smooth, paved surface, suffering road rash and a broken wrist.

The lawsuit indicates Ogan spent significant time and money recovering from his injuries, and still deals with a lost of function and mobility in his wrist due to the Onewheel stopping suddenly, which has become known as a “nose-dive”.

Onewheel Nose-Dive Accidents

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. However, in recent months there have been a number of OneWheel lawsuits filed after riders suffered devastating injuries when a “pushback” feature failed, causing the OneWheel to nose-dive and stop suddenly.

On September 29, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a Onewheel recall, impacting 300,000 devices sold nationwide, indicating that the devices pose an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death

The electric Onewheel skateboard problems have stemmed from 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.

“Defendant’s Devices have several methods of failure, of particular note is the nosedive style of failure, in which the Device suddenly nose dives, launching the User forward,” the lawsuit states. “The Devices will sporadically lose balance in many different settings, and thus, are extremely dangerous.”

Onewheel Personal Injury Lawsuits

Ogan’s lawsuit echoes allegations raised by a growing number of other individuals who are now pursuing Onewheel XR lawsuits, indicating that this and other design flaws make the electric skateboard unreasonably dangerous and defective. The lawsuit claims that about 70 similar claims have been filed in federal courts nationwide.

On October 13, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) announced it will hear oral arguments at the end of this month, to determine whether all Onewheel lawsuits should be consolidated before one judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

After the hearings, the JPML will decide whether to establish a Onewheel MDL and which venue is most appropriate. However, even if an MDL is established, each individual claim may later be remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it originated if the parties fail to negotiate a Onewheel injury settlement or another resolution for the claims.