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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Courts - "U.S. Appeals Court Rejects NY City’s Suit to Curb Guns"

Alan Feuer of the NY Times reports today:

A federal appeals court threw out New York City’s longstanding lawsuit against the gun industry on Wednesday, ruling that a relatively new federal law protects gun makers against such suits.

The appellate ruling killed perhaps the boldest avenue by which the city has sought to stem the flow of illegal guns into New York: a claim that gun makers and distributors have knowingly flooded illicit, underground markets with their weapons.

The city’s suit, filed in 2000, was upheld in December 2005 by Judge Jack B. Weinstein of Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Judge Weinstein allowed it to move forward, despite protests by gun makers like Beretta U.S.A., Browning Arms, Colt Manufacturing, Glock and Smith & Wesson, all of which cited a federal law that had been passed two months earlier.

That law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, banned all suits against the gun industry except those in which a plaintiff could prove that gun makers had violated state or federal statutes in their sales and marketing practices.

The city contended that the gun makers did exactly that, by failing to monitor retail dealers closely enough and, therefore, by allowing guns to end up in the hands of criminals. As a result, the city said, the manufacturers had created a “condition that negatively affects the public health or safety” and, thus, had violated New York State’s public-nuisance law. It requested an injunction.

But the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument, ruling that the nuisance law did not constitute a permissible exception under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. It reversed Judge Weinstein’s decision and ordered the suit dismissed. * * *

Gun makers have been sued dozens of times by city and state officials across the country, but no suit has ever been successful. New York City’s suit against the industry, in fact, went further toward a trial than most, said Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association.

The city of Gary, Ind., has so far been able to pursue its own case against the gun industry in the Indiana state court system. When he was New York State’s attorney general, Eliot Spitzer tried to sue gun makers in the New York courts, but the suit was dismissed in 2003 when a state appellate court ruled that there was no reasonable legal claim in his complaint.

The New York Law Journal also has a story today, headed "2nd Circuit Dismisses NYC's Suit Against Gun Manufacturers: Gun makers found insulated under U.S. law."

More about the Gary case: This ILB entry from Oct. 29, 2007, is headed "COA issues ruling today in Smith and Wesson case." See also this list of "Smith and Wesson" entries. For background on the case, start with this ILB entry (2nd half) from Sept. 8th, including links to the Indiana Supreme Court's 2003 ruling and then Lake Superior Court Civil Division 5 Judge Robert Pete's Oct. 6, 2006 ruling that "a year-old federal law shielding gun makers from lawsuits" was unconstitutional.

Where is the Gary case now? A check of the Clerk's docket (45 A 05 - 0612 - CV - 00754 SMITH AND WESSON ET AL. -V- CITY OF GARY Interlocutory) shows that Appellants' motion for rehearing was denied 1/9/08, that Appellants' motion for transfer was filed 2/7/08, that briefs have been filed, and that Appellants' motion for oral argument was filed 3/17/08.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 1, 2008 08:27 AM
Posted to Courts in general