Lawsuit Accuses Stock Trading App Robinhood of Wrongful Death

A family is suing Robinhood after a user of the app died from suicide. Alex Kearns was a senior in high school when he first downloaded the amateur stock trading app and a freshman in college when he began more actively investing. In June of 2020, Kearns was notified by Robinhood through an email that his account reflected a negative balance of $730,000 and that he was required to return the money within a week. However, Kearns didn’t actually owe the money because his losses would have been covered by options held in his account. Unfortunately, Kearns was unaware of this. Believing his family would get stuck with the bill, he pleaded with the company for help. His emails went unanswered and soon after, Kearns took his own life at the age of 20. His family is now alleging Robinhood’s unfair business practices and negligence is responsible for his emotional distress and wrongful death. Robinhood denies the claims, saying they were devastated by the incident and took measures to improve the app following it.