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Anti-gun suit gets a major victory
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Anti-gun suit gets a major victoryPublic nuisance laws may apply, appeals court saysBy Robert Becker and Christi ParsonsTribune staff reportersPublished January 1, 2002In a significant victory for gun-control advocates, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled Monday that gunmakers and distributors can be sued on the grounds that their products create a public nuisance.Marking the first time an Illinois appeals court has considered the novel legal strategy, the decision allows the family of slain Chicago Police Officer Michael Ceriale and relatives of two others killed in gun violence to press their claim in Cook County Circuit Court that firearms manufacturers and distributors have "nurtured a climate of violence" by flooding Chicago and its suburbs with guns. Writing for the three-member panel, Appellate Judge William Cousins Jr. ruled: "In our view, a reasonable trier of fact could find that the criminal misuse of guns killing persons were occurrences that defendants knew would result or were substantially certain to result from the defendants' alleged conduct."The decision represents the biggest win to date for gun-control advocates in their drive to use public nuisance laws to hold gunmakers accountable, legal experts say.Of more than 30 such suits filed around the country, this is the first case to win a favorable appellate decision, said David Kairys, the Temple University law professor who came up with the legal strategy."This is really a very strong vindication" of the strategy, Kairys said. "The way the manufacturers are endangering the public health and safety is that they are knowingly and intentionally supplying the criminal market. It's really that simple."In addition to allowing the Ceriale case to proceed, the Appellate Court's decision could also influence a similar suit brought by the City of Chicago, which is pending before the same panel. The city's suit, which also raised nuisance issues, was dismissed in September 2000 by a Cook County judge.Lawyers for the city said Monday that the appellate decision in the Ceriale case--while not binding--"gives every indication" that the lawsuit will be reinstated.In addition to the Ceriale family, plaintiffs in the case pending before Cook County Circuit Judge Jennifer Duncan-Brice include the family of Andrew Young, who was murdered in June 1996 in his car at a stoplight at Clark and Howard Streets.Defendants in the suit include a number of firearms manufacturers and distributors, including Smith & Wesson, Browning Arms Co. and Bryco Arms.Attorneys representing gun manufacturers said Monday they had not seen the Appellate Court's decision.But James Dorr, attorney for two gunmakers, said: "I'm sure we'll consider" appealing the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.NRA reactionTodd Vandermyde, Illinois lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, said gun opponents are trying to get from the court what "they've been unable to get out of the legislature.""They don't like guns, they don't like gun shops, they don't like people who own guns. So they'll do what they can to run them out of town," Vandermyde said.Attorneys for the families that brought the case praised the court's decision as "sensible and courageous.""What the court did is apply time-honored principles of public nuisance law to the situation we have in Chicago," said Locke Bowman, legal director for the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Chicago.Lawsuits against the gun industry have cast a new light on the doctrine of public nuisance, the area of law that lets officials put a stop to activities that pose a danger to the public. In more traditional cases, cities have used such laws to put a clamp on unlawful use of fireworks or industries belching smoke.In recent years, though, Chicago and dozens of other municipalities have tried to use the law to pursue gun manufacturers, alleging that they, too, violate reasonable rights to safety. With Monday's opinion, the private plaintiffs cleared the first hurdle to applying that law to a new set of facts.Filed in 1998, the lawsuit stems from the gun-related deaths of five young people, including rookie Police Officer Ceriale, 26, who was killed in August 1998 while conducting surveillance of a drug operation at the Robert Taylor Homes.The lawsuit accused the defendants of "supplying a vast, illicit underground market in handguns in order to meet the demand for weapons of gang members and juveniles."Attorneys for the families alleged that the design, marketing and distribution of the weapons "combined to create a situation where it was highly likely that the guns would flow into the underground market."Attorneys for the gun manufacturers have countered that their clients manufacture and distribute a legal product.Circuit Court rulingsWhile Judge Duncan-Brice had dismissed some of the claims brought against gunmakers, she ruled in February that the nuisance allegations could proceed.Duncan-Brice said gunmakers failed to demonstrate that their "actions in distributing and marketing their handguns have been lawful."Duncan-Brice's decision was at odds with that of Circuit Judge Stephen Schiller, who had dismissed the city's case against gunmakers, saying Chicago had failed to show that it had been vigorous in pursuing enforcement of gun laws on the books.But Benna Ruth Solomon, chief assistant corporation counsel for Chicago, said that because the city's case uses legal theory similar to the Ceriale case, "on the common elements we should prevail as they prevailed."In the opinion released Monday, the Appellate Court ruled that if the allegations are proved true, "defendants have the power to control the purposeful creation and maintenance of an illegal secondary market by oversupplying the areas around Chicago with handguns."Failure to exercise that power would violate the public's rights, even if the gunmakers are following the letter of the law with regard to manufacture and distribution of guns, the court said.Copyright c 2001, Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0201010192jan01.story
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