Decision blocking gun lawsuit stands

Josey1

Decision blocking gun lawsuit standsJustices refuse to review ruling that protects weapon makersFrom Herald Staff and Wire Reports WASHINGTON -- Gun makers persuaded the Supreme Court not to revive a case testing the companies' liability for the lethal effects of their products.The court, without comment, refused Tuesday to review a ruling that protects weapon makers from a round of local government lawsuits in Louisiana.The legal landscape has improved for gun manufacturers since 1999, when many cities and counties were filing suit seeking to recover tax money spent dealing with gun violence.The Clinton administration threatened a national class-action lawsuit claiming that guns and how they are marketed have contributed to violence in public housing projects, but never filed it.The Bush administration has not pursued such a case. New Orleans was the first city to file a lawsuit accusing gun makers of selling unsafe products. The city filed its suit in 1998.The case was blocked by the Louisiana Legislature, which passed a law retroactively banning those types of suits.Another 26 states have passed similar laws, at the urging of the National Rifle Association.The Supreme Court declined without comment to review a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that upheld that state's prohibition. The refusal likely chills cities' efforts to sue gun makers in the face of state bans.Similar Georgia and Michigan laws have been contested, and attorney Dennis A. Henigan said gun makers could eventually face trials in those states.``We do not believe these special interest statutes will succeed in protecting the industry from accountability for its misconduct,'' said Henigan, who is with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.He said government lawsuits against gun makers are also pending in other states.Jim Baker, chief lobbyist for the NRA, said gun makers have won about 10 of the cases. He said government leaders, not courts, should be reviewing gun policies.In 1999, a Miami-Dade circuit judge shot down a county lawsuit against the nation's gun industry, saying the county (gra)(gra)lacks standing'' to sue firearms manufacturers on behalf of shooting victims.Judge Amy Dean also ruled that the county can't collect damages from the nation's 25 major gun manufacturers for the cost of caring for those victims at Jackson Memorial Hospital, the county's largest public hospital.Dean said individual victims have rights to sue the industry for negligence or product liability, but not the county.Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, who has made gun control a cornerstone of his administration, expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court action Tuesday, but said he had no further comment at this time. http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/national/digdocs/097100.htm

Judge Dread

Have to take a good look at statutes if someone decides to file a case agaist BoeingAicraft Corp For not installing security doors at cockpits that led to Airplane-Miss use by terrorist . Remember S&W case Precedent.