From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subj: Panel asks NY court to assess gun marketing theory Date: 17/Aug/00 6:31:02 PM GMT Daylight Time From: UKNewsroom BCC: KiPng Panel asks NY court to assess gun marketing theory By Gail Appleson, Law Correspondent NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court has decided to let a New York state court determine the legality of the negligent-marketing theory used to win the first jury verdict against the gun industry last year. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling dated Wednesday, referred the issue to the New York Court of Appeals to decide whether the theory is allowable under state law. The question stems from the historic case in which a Brooklyn federal jury found handgun makers legally responsible for crimes committed with their guns and awarded more than $500,000 in damages to a New York teenager who was severely wounded in a 1995 attack. The case is being closely watched because at least 30 cities and municipalities have sued the gun industry and some of these plaintiffs are also using a negligent marketing theory. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People has also sued the gun industry in Brooklyn federal court. As recently as last week families of the victims of an extremist's 1999 shooting spree at a Los Angeles Jewish Centre sued gun makers saying they should be held liable for public nuisance and negligence. In the Brooklyn case, U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein had allowed the victims' families to proceed with its suit against 25 firearms companies under the theory they had negligently oversupplied southern states with lax gun control laws. The plaintiffs alleged that the gun makers knew they had flooded those markets with more handguns than could possibly be absorbed by legal buyers and that tens of thousands of weapons would flow to other states, including New York that has strict laws. These guns, they alleged, could then be used to commit crimes. The families alleged that the defendants failed to monitor distribution and should be held responsible for illegal handgun use. In a complicated verdict rendered in February 1999, the jury found that 15 of the defendants had negligently marketed guns. However it awarded damages against only three of the gun makers they found were liable in the shooting of the teenager. The damages were determined by those companies share of the national gun market. As part of its ruling, the 2nd Circuit also asked the state court to consider whether a market share theory of liability could be used to determine damages against the three gun makers. The jury had returned a verdicts of $272,000 against Taurus International Manufacturing Inc.; $241,000 against Beretta U.S.A. Corp. and $9,200 against American Arms Inc. The verdict was based on findings that Taurus has a 6.8 percent of the national handgun market, Beretta, 6 percent and American Arms 0.2 percent. Kenneth Pantling Nock's Grim Truth - In proportion as you give the State power to do things for you, you give it power to do things to you; and the State invariably makes as little as it can of the one power and as much as it can of the other. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
