Gun Makers Must Face Municipality's Claims for Cost of Violence

Law.com ^ | 18 Dec 2001 | Mary P. Gallagher

[Zon]

Just wait, alcohol companies are next, then fast food restaurants and junk food makers, it will go on and on until the lawyers have all the money in the world.

Does that mean we can then use lawyer scalps as the preferred currency of choice.

[Colt .45]

And who said the Genes Pool wasn't dead?! Here is proof of it! Blame the gun, blame the manufacturer, but don't blame the cretin who fired the gun!

[aomagrat]

[Redbob]

"(Judge)Minuskin took issue with the 3rd Circuit's narrow view of New Jersey nuisance law...adding that he was not bound to follow the federal court."

Said Minuskin: "I'm a dipsh*t local hack, but I know more about the law than federal appeals court judges!"

[Liberty Ship]

Well, I can't afford it at the moment, but here goes another $300 to the NRA, and $100 each to GOA and JFPO. We can talk all we want, but that is the only way I know how to shoot back legally.

[Redbob]

Right you are. This isn't about winning in court, it's about the 'death by a thousand cuts' approach to ridding the country of gun manufacturers.

[George Smiley]

This is the state that thinks you're too stupid to pump your own gas.

What more need be said?

[aruanan]

Essex County Superior Court Judge Arthur Minuskin ruled Dec. 11 that the city of Newark, N.J., could proceed with causes of action grounded in negligence and nuisance, albeit not on product liability or unjust enrichment claims, against more than 15 companies that produce and distribute handguns.

Well, why not go after automobile manufacturers? G-d knows cars cause a lot more injury and death due to negligence and nuisance based on the behavior of the users than do guns. Car manufacturers also have far deeper pockets.

[hobbes1]

This is the state that thinks you're too stupid to pump your own gas.

Oddly enough however, we pay the same for gas as most comparable places pay FOR self serve....Talk to me in January/February.

The only one that Profits from pumping your own gas is the Oil company.Prices do not drop accordingly.

NJ doesn't do alot of things right....But....this time....

[George Smiley]

The only one that Profits from pumping your own gas is the Oil company.

Prices do not drop accordingly.

I guess that explains why Full Serve costs more down here.

[jimt]

...and just like education billions actually went directly to the classrooms and NOT for more assistant principals, curriculum advisors, and other bureaucrats.

Houston Independent School District employs somewhere between 2.8 and 3.8 non-teaching employees per teacher, depending on how you figure the average class size. And look at the wonderful results ! Our dropout rate runs over 50% in some demographic groups. What a successful spending plan !

[LaineyDee]

How long before all product manufacturers will be held monetarily responsible for anything and everything their product does?

I thought the same thing. Shall we sue the lumberyards now... when people die in a house fire? How about the swimming pool manufacturers.... when kids drown due to lack of parental supervision? The whole thing is absurd.

[DuncanWaring]

Every product sold would come with a BIG price tag to cover the potential lawsuits over misuse of the product.

That sort of thing destroyed the small-aircraft manufacturing industry in the mid-1980's. Cessna stopped building piston-powered aircraft for about a decade because the lawsuits over truly boneheaded pilot errors were cleaning them out.

[connectthedots]

Minuskin took issue with the 3rd Circuit's narrow view of New Jersey nuisance law. "New Jersey law does not require that plaintiffs prove both injury to real property and violation of public rights," wrote Minuskin, adding that he was not bound to follow the federal court.

1. Where in the U.S. Constitution is there any mention of "public rights"?

2. Yes he is bound to follow the federal court. The Constitution and laws on the United States are the supreme law of the land.

3. The defendants should remove this case to federal court and also file a civil rights action against the city for violating a number of their constitutional rights. If the do and prevail, which they will, the city will have to pay damages plus all their legal fees. It is a sure way to get cities to stop this nonsense.

[Ag88]

I'm guessing Case, Schrade, & Buck knife manufacturers are next? Same thing.

Now, suppose a perp drives his truck into a crowded Luby's in NJ and pulls two pistols, but before he can do any damage, some nice lawbreaker with a concealed weapon in her purse plugs him & saves 30 people's lives. There'll be thousands of dollars saved in averted medical expenses. Should the amount of the potential award in the above case be reduced by the estimated savings? Suppose something similar happens every day on a smaller scale? If the economic benefit of firearms in society is found to outweigh the costs, will NJ send the manufacturers and gun associations a check? Should we factor in the averted costs of all the potential damage perps caught by gun-weilding law-enforcement officers could have done but don't because Johnny Law has gun and can arrest them?

[BlackbirdSST]

let me further your suggestion, let us sue Brady, Inc..and all their minions and offshoot groups because they " mislead the public about the safety of guns and their effectiveness in deterring crime." We have facts to back us up about the gun/crime statistics, and the safety factor. They have NOTHING but lies. Of course, that's never stopped them in the past. But I figure, if we can bleed THEM dry, they won't have money to spend on lobbying and frivolous lawsuits. Throw in a suit against them for damages due to people who have been killed because they DIDN'T have a gun to defend themselves and BINGO! We've just solved the gun control problem.

I'll take a piece of that action! When do we start? Blackbird.

[Aric2000]

I warned and I warned, that if the tobaco suits succeeded that the gun manufacturers would be next, then fast food store chains for thier High fat content and then of course the list goes on and on and on and on.

Once you sue a company for a users decisions, and take away the personal responsibility aspect, then all bets are off.

Who needs to raise taxes when you can sue companies for ridiculous amounts of money and get it without raising taxes.

This is ALL about MONEY, it has NOTHING to do with anything else. the aspect of putting gun manufacturers out of business is a good thing to them, but NOT the main thing, they want the money.

Consider it another backdoor tax, without the legislative bother, use the courts to do it instead. Sound familiar to anyone?

[Aric2000]

bttt

Because the lawyers are PIGS!! no offense to defense lawyers!! LOL

[Lazamataz]

New Jersey. Maryland. Massachusetts.

The places where liberty was born, are the sullied ground where liberty is dying.

[Lazamataz]

Well, why not go after automobile manufacturers?

You think that's not on the agenda??!?!?!