From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Florida appeals court rejects gun suit MIAMI, Feb 22 (Reuters) - A Florida appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling dismissing a product liability lawsuit against gun manufacturers that sought to recoup millions of tax dollars spent treating gunfire victims and investigating gun-related crime. The Third District Court of Appeal last week rejected a bid by Miami-Dade County to overturn the 1999 lower court ruling, which tossed out the county's lawsuit against two dozen gun makers, distributors and industry groups on the grounds the county lacked legal standing. Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas, who was behind the lawsuit, was considering options to continue the litigation, his spokesman said on Thursday. "The mayor is obviously a little disappointed by the decision," spokesman Juan Mendieta said. "He feels it is necessary to move ahead and see what can be done to keep this legal action alive." The Miami-Dade lawsuit, one of a series brought by more than two dozen municipalities including San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles, sought reimbursement for public spending related to gun violence. It alleged that gun-makers sold products that were defective because they lacked safety devices such as trigger locks and load indicators that would reveal whether the firing chamber contained a bullet. In December 1999, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Amy Dean granted the gun manufacturers' request to dismiss the suit, ruling that the county was not a proper plaintiff. She said Florida law required plaintiffs in product liability cases to show that they were harmed by a specific defect in a specific product made by a specific manufacturer. In upholding Dean's decision, the appellate court called the lawsuit "an attempt to regulate firearms and ammunition through the medium of the judiciary. "Clearly this round-about attempt is being made because of the County's frustration at its inability to directly regulate firearms...," the appeals court wrote. "The County's frustration cannot be alleviated through litigation." Firearms dealers hailed the ruling, which was issued on Feb. 14 but made public by gun companies on Thursday. "The Florida appeals court ruling is yet another strong indication that our nation's courts will not allow themselves to be used to mandate a radical anti-gun agenda," Carlton Chen, general counsel for Colt's Manufacturing Co. Inc., said in a statement. Penelas, who filed the lawsuit in hope of forcing gun-makers to produce childproof guns and to change distribution and marketing practices, was to be briefed by county lawyers next week on his options for pursuing the litigation. "There are several avenues. There is the possibility of a direct appeal to the (Florida) Supreme Court. We could petition the Third District for a rehearing. Or we could not pursue it," Assistant County Attorney Javier Soto said. Defendants in the Miami-Dade lawsuit included Smith & Wesson Corp., a unit of the British conglomerate Tomkins Plc; Beretta U.S.A. Corp.; Glock Inc.; Sturm Ruger & Co Inc; Colt's Manufacturing Company Inc.; Browning Arms Co. and Carl Walther GmbH. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________________________ T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
