Concord, NH (AP)-facing lawsuits for a popular pistol, a New Hampshire-based SIG SIG requested-and received protection in the form of a new state law, which makes it difficult for the arms to the court.
Proponents in the legislation led by Republicans said the law was necessary to support a major employer. In court cases, Sig Sauer’s P320 pistol can go out without the trigger, a claim that the company denies.
The law covers all manufacturers of weapons and federal licensees of firearms in claims for the responsibility of the products regarding the “absence or presence” of four specific safety functions. One of these features is external mechanical safety that people sue Sig Sauer, who say it should be the standard for the P320 based on its design. The claims can still be filed by production defects.
Those who have filed a lawsuit against Sig Sauer in New Hampshire and elsewhere include police, federal law enforcement officers and other experienced weapons users from many states who say they have been injured by the gun.
In some cases, the manufacturer has prevailed. She is attractive to two recent sentences for multi -million dollars against him in Pennsylvania and Georgia.
George Abrahams veteran of the US Army and Philadelphia’s painting performer, who won his work, said he was digging his P320, put it in his athletic pants pocket and had a til down before he went down.
“All I did was get down the stairs and there was a strong explosion, and then the painful pain and bleeding,” he told the Associated Press in 2022. He said the bullet was torn through the right thigh.
The company, which employs over 2000 people in a country with weapons permits, says that the P320 has internal safety mechanisms and “has undergone the most striking tests and evaluation of any firearms, from military and law enforcement agencies worldwide.” It says the problem is a user mistake or incompatible holsters, not design.
“Do you want people to be able to judge car manufacturers because they sell cars that do not have air conditioning?” State representative Terry Roy, a Republican from Deerfield, told the chamber during a debate in May.
Opponents criticized the bill as a special release from the Liability Act, which has never been provided to any other company in New Hampshire.
“I think there is a difference between helping a big employer and the creation of a release, which actually hurts people and does not give them their day in court,” State representative David Mause, Democrat from Portsmouth, said in an interview. His area covers Newdington, where Sig Sauer is headquartered.
The 2005 Federal Law gives the arms industry a broad legal immunity. New Hampshire was already in the 32 states who have passed laws on weapons immunity in some form, according to the Giffords Law Center to prevent weapons. Some countries have also canceled the statute of the immunity of the weapons industry or weaken them.
Sig Sauer is looking for help
Sig Sauer CEO has asked New Hampshire MPs for help in April, two weeks after a Pennsylvania-based law firm brought his most recent Condo-of-the-art federal court on March 26 because of the P320 design. The company represents over 100 people who have filed such court cases, including more than 70 in New Hampshire.
“We are struggling with all these lawsuits out of the city and every lawsuit we have to fight, takes money from Granite State residents and workers that we can also hire technology,” Bobby Cox, Vice President of Government Affairs, testifies.
The measure came into force after Republican governor Kelly Iott signed it on May 23. Legislators said it did not apply to the acting court cases. However, Sig Sauer’s attorneys mention it as part of their argument to dismiss the case in March or destroy and transfer the claims of 22 plaintiffs to the judicial areas where they live. Hearing on the matter is determined for July 21.
The Ayotte service did not respond to AP request, but told Kene Sentinel that it was “proud to protect companies in New Hampshire, which create thousands of well -paid jobs from frivolous lawsuits.”
“Lawyers outside the state who want to make money will not find a place in New Hampshire,” said Iotes’ office in an email statement to the newspaper.
Robert Zimmerman, the claimants’ leading lawyer in Pennsylvania, said the purpose of court cases is to change the design of the weapon so that it is safe for the people who use it.
New Hampshire was the chosen place, as federal rules allow lawsuits against a company in his home country, Zimmerman said. These court cases were awarded to a federal judge in Concord.
“SIG is trying strategically decentralizing this case and to make each client go to 100 different courts and delay the process of the two parties to get a fair result, which is a substantive test,” Zimmerman said in an interview.
Sig Sauer gets protection
Judicial cases blame Sig Sauer in defective products and marketing and negligence.
During the debate of the house, Roy said he owns the P320 and this is one of his favorite weapons, “But you can buy them with or without guarantees.”
The plaintiffs say that the “huge majority” of the P320 models sold do not come with safety, “even as an option.”
Sig Sauer says some users prefer a faster download time provided by the lack of external safety; Others want the additional security feature.
Sig Sauer offered a “voluntary upgrade” in 2017 to include an alternative design that reduces the weight of the trigger, among other features. The claimants’ lawyers claim that the superstructure has not stopped inadvertently disposing.
Countries, Industries and Immunity
“It’s not a great look” when the manufacturer can carve a legal release for himself, but it is also not uncommon, said Daniel Pi, an associate professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School for Law.
In Tennessee, the governor Bill Lee signed a bill in 2023 after a deadly school firing, which he gives to dealers of weapons and ammunition, producers and sellers additional protection against court cases. This year, Tennessee legislators have adopted another bill to further restrict responsibility for weapons companies.
In a different industry – pesticides – the governors in North Dakota and Georgia signed laws this year, providing legal protection to Bayer, the Roundup manufacturer, a popular weed killer. Bayer was hit with 181,000 claims claiming that the key ingredient in Roundup causes a non -Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Bayer challenges these claims.
Louisiana’s legislature has adopted a bill to protect the elderly homes from most court cases and limit the damage. Republican governor Jeff Landry has not yet acted on him.