(CA Jury finds) Gun maker liable in shooting of boy

WorldNetDaily ^ | May 10, 2003 | Jon Dougherty

[FairOpinion]

A California jury has found a firearms manufacturer partially liable in the accidental injury and crippling of a young boy in a unique court ruling against a gun maker.

An Alameda County jury found Bryco Arms largely responsible for the injury of Brandon Maxfield, now 16, of Willits, nine years ago, the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday.

According to the paper, Brandon was shot in the jaw April 6, 1994. He and a 12-year-old relative were being watched by a family friend who was living with them in their home temporarily.

The Chronicle reported the 12-year-old believed some adult had asked him to get the gun out. When he did, according to the defense attorney in the case, the 20-year-old baby sitter – Larry William Moreford II – took the pistol from the boy. In the process of unloading it, he shot Brandon in the jaw.

"He was trying to unload the gun," said Richard Ruggieri, Brandon's attorney. "In order to do that, he had to put it on 'fire.' The gun slipped in his hand and it went off. This was not a 'child playing with a gun' type of situation."

Ruggieri said the family was "pleased but reserved" about the $50.9 million verdict, while acknowledging it could be some time before Brandon sees any money, if ever.

The jury must first decide what part of the damages each defendant is responsible to pay, said Ruggieri. Two of the defendants in the case are Brandon's parents, as well as Moreford.

Also throwing the verdict in doubt is the probability of an appeal. Assuming Brandon wins that appeal, he will still have to collect the money from defendants, which could also be a problem because of a bill passed last month by the U.S. House of Representatives protecting gun makers from liability.

If passed into law in its current form, the bill – backed by the National Rifle Association – would eliminate almost all civil liability for gun makers, as WorldNetDaily reported earlier.

Ruggieri said the bill may not affect Brandon's case, but he admitted he was concerned about its ramifications.

"We're certainly concerned with it," Ruggieri said. "It would be a human tragedy if something like that would block something like this."

And, the defense attorney told the paper, the case isn't about attacking gun rights.

"This trial is not about the Second Amendment or the right to bear arms," he said. "This is just a case about Brandon."

[FairOpinion]

"Why wouldn't the "adult" just get the gun themselves? "

The article said that the babysitter was a " a family friend who was living with them in their home temporarily", so probably didn't know where the gun was.

From the little info in the article, it sure sounds like the adult, who was a 20 year old IRRESPONSIBLE adult, obviously, was curious and asked the kid to get the gun.

And of course, suppose the kid just went and got the gun. What is the babysitter for, except to WATCH the kid. First of all he shouldn't have even let the kid get the gun, or then immediately lock it up, or put it away, NOT to fiddle with it. I don't buy this unloading story.

I think the defense attorney should have followed up in his questioning on the kid's statement that an adult asked him to bring the guy. Looks like another case of who had the best attorney.

[George W. Bush]

...Then we'd see guns with no safeties at all.

My Glock 23 has no external safety. No Glock that I know of does. They have a few minor internal safeties. But when it's loaded, it's ready to shoot. Glock isn't the only one with these DAO (double-action-only) designs that have no safety. Most CCW weapons are like this now, I think.

[old school]

What can you say about jurors (registered voters), who return avowed socialists, Pete Stark and Barbara Lee to Congress every two years?

[FairOpinion]

The manufacturer is listed:

"An Alameda County jury found Bryco Arms"

[discostu]

Gun makes CAN make defective products and should be help liable for them. I'm not sure if that's the case with this one though the information given would seem to indicate it (put it on fire to unload?!). This isn't like somebody sueing the gun manufacturer because their son got blown away while he was robbing a liquor store, this is a normal product liability case and should be judged on the merits of the product.

[Reeses]

Revolvers don't have safety switches so I'm curious why revolver makers aren't sued for such an "unsafe" design. I know manufacturers often remove useful features from products because lawyers exploit operator error. It's a shame. Our current legal system does not lend itself to making the world a better place.

[FairOpinion]

I found the "original (?)" article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Jury awards $51 million to boy in accidental shooting; legislation could affect outcome

Thursday, May 8, 2003

(05-08) 06:38 PDT OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) --

A jury awarded $51 million in damages to boy who was accidentally shot and paralyzed in 1994, but the verdict may not stand because of pending legislation that would protect gun manufacturers from liability.

The jury awarded damages to Brandon Maxfield on Wednesday, two weeks after concluding that gun maker Bryco Arms was partially liable when he was shot in the jaw with a .38-caliber handgun that a family friend was trying to unload.

But it is unclear whether the verdict will survive. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed a bill to protect gun makers and distributors from being sued for damages; the bill is now awaiting Senate action.

Two weeks ago, the jury found Bryco 10 percent liable after concluding the company manufactured a defective firearm. To unload the weapon, a user must first unlock the trigger lock -- a dangerous and flawed system, according to the boy's attorney, Richard Ruggieri. Calls to Bryco went unanswered.

The gun's distributors were found 30 percent liable.

The jury said one-third of blame for the shooting falls on Maxfield's parents for leaving a loaded weapon in their Willits home. Jurors also found the shooter, family friend William Moreford, 20 percent liable.

If the award survives, each party may have to pay its percentage of the liability.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/08/national0938EDT0549.DTL

[just me]

"""I guess the stupidity of juries knows no bounds"""

And with a little help from the schools there will be more stupidity in the jury box.

[PISANO]

We can always SUE ranchers that breed cows for cholestoral related heart attacks or maybe even SUE thoroughbred breeders for MAKING people GAMBLE their life savings at the race track. Don't fret the lawyers of the world and the greed of their clients will make these seemingly impossible events to eventually occur.

[creeping death]

Damn. I bought a Jennings Nine in 2000 and have put a good 300 rounds through it. Seeing that link makes me never want to fire it again.

[FairOpinion]

"Our current legal system does not lend itself to making the world a better place. "

---

I think this is the crux of the matter: the entire legal system is flawed, I think we should dump it and start over.

[Terry Mross]

Let's see. The kids parents are defendants and the parents are saying they doubt if Brandon will ever see any of the money. So, I guess the parents have already decided not to pay up. Is this a stupid case or what.

[old school]

I don't know Jennings, but firearms are not toys. If you need one, and you're not familiar with them, then seek-out someone who is, for advice before you buy. Buying a firearm is not like shopping Wal-Mart for some cheap, made-in-China (or L.A.), knock-off of any ordinary product. Inexpensive, well-made firearms can still be purchased in this country. However, firearms should never be handled by the uninitiated, period!

[George W. Bush]

I'm going blind. The dangers of bachelorhood apparently.

[George W. Bush]

• Bryco 10%
• Distributors 30%
• Family one-third (33%)
• Babysitter 20%

Weird. It only adds up to 96.33%, it seems, at least from the article. There's 3.66% of the blame that is unaccounted for.

Bryco, the gunmaker, was held the least responsible. I would guess the family won't have to pay their minor son and will sign away his rights to sue both them and the babysitter before the boy reaches legal age. So, it will be 5.1 million for Bryco and 15.3 million for the distributors. Of the 20.4 million, the lawyer will probably grab at least 10 million, maybe more.

In other words, the parties least responsible, the gunmaker and the distributors, will pay all the award.

The parents (33%) and the distributros were most to blame, according to the jury. But why is the distributor to be considered so guilty? That makes no sense at all unless the distributors removed safety warnings and instructions or somehow modified the gun. But none of that makes any sense either.

[skinkinthegrass]

This isn't about Brandon, this is about money, that magical paper substance that bestows the grace of justice upon it's possessors, minus a small transaction cost.

Some lawyers give their Profession a very bad name, esp. this case...we need tort reform...lawyers=liberals=scum

[An Old Man]

"I'd really like to know if the gun had to be put on 'fire' in order to unload. This sounds pretty crazy."

Start thinking out of the box! Most people when asked about unloading a weapon instantly think about removing the cartridges from the rear of the weapon manually. But. . . what if you are one of those individuals who intends to remove the bullets from the case, and then let the extractor remove the case for you.

If the handler of the weapon falls into the later classification, then maybe the gun was functioning as designed, and there was a real need to place the safety in fire position.

What do you think? Accidental death or Murder in the first degree?

Semper Fi

[George W. Bush]

But. . . what if you are one of those individuals who intends to remove the bullets from the case, and then let the extractor remove the case for you.

Sorry. I'm just not that imaginative. My idea of unloading a gun is to fire all the bullets in it. But I'm kind of simplistic about such things.

[templar]

... or hammer manufacturers, when people hit their thumbs ...

Not really a relevant example. It would be more appropriate to use the example of a hammer with an improperly attached head having the head fly off during normal use and injure someone standing nearby.

[FairOpinion]

There is no evidence, at least not from the article, that the gun was defective.