Arguing it designed one of its most popular handguns to military specifics, Sig Sauer wants a federal judge handling a lawsuit that seeks a recall of the P320.
The pistol is the subject of hundreds of claims by private individuals who claim it fired without the trigger being pulled. In October, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin joined the fight against the company with a case that seeks a recall and a change to how the gun is marketed.
Platkin cited the case of Orange Police Department detective Walter Imbert, who was allegedly killed when the gun went off as he prepared to clean it. Sig Sauer removed the case to federal court on Nov. 20, where it will be heard by Newark judge Susan Wigenton, a President George W. Bush-appointee.
“The complaint threatens to trample on fundamental Second Amendment rights and would directly challenge an exhaustive federal contracting review process through which the United States Army approved the exact design of internal safeties included in all P320 firearms that the Attorney General contends are defective,” the notice of removal says.
The military and federal law enforcement agencies would also be unable to arming their officers with the P320 if the recall is granted, Sig Sauer says. Verdicts have gone both ways in trials against Sig Sauer, and a Philadelphia jury last year awarded $11 million in one man’s case.
In September, a Missouri federal judge certified a class in a class action brought under the state’s Merchandising Practices Act that says customers wouldn’t have paid for or paid as much as for the P320 if they knew of the dangers of unintentional firing.
Lawyers at Terrell Marshall Law Group on Nov. 17 filed a Washington class action under the state’s Consumer Protection Act. The lawsuits say the P320 has a three-part design defect that renders it unreasonably dangerous.
The pistol is fully energized and ready to fire the instant a round is chambered, the suits say, plus a sensitive trigger. The Philadelphia firm Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky had been suing Sig Sauer in its home state, New Hampshire, before a Nov. 24 suit in Philadelphia federal court on behalf of more than 60 clients – some of whom are the spouses of gun-owners allegedly injured by an unintentional firing.
Legislation passed this year in New Hampshire protects Sig Sauer from future lawsuits there.
“Sig Sauer’s gamesmanship in blocking access to justice in New Hampshire is the sole reason why the undersigned firm is filing this action in Pennsylvania…” Saltz Mongeluzi’s complaint says.
