Insurance

[chiefjason]

Anybody know of a successful lawsuit against a holster maker? I know of one. There may be others.

And from what I remember of reading about it, it was a rather bizarre turn of events that led to them being sued. IIRC, it include a LE agency asking for something the maker was not comfortable doing, refused the alternative design, talked the maker into the original design, design happened to fail in a gun fight and an officer got shot.

[SteelcityK9Cop]

Define successful lawsuit.... a $50,000 settlement for a round cranked into their leg because they couldn't keep their boogerhook off the trigger when holstering sounds like sucessfull to me. I just don't want it to be MY $50K. $300 a year sounds like a great investment.

And you don't know what the circumstance could be... "the holster deformed with use" "they should have told me not to put a loaded firearm in there" "no one told me..blah blah blah" I bet no one ever thought you would get big bucks for hot coffee at McDonalds either.

[Hi Im Joe]

How 'bout just a bit of common sense thrown in the mix before we all git 'gun shy'. An accidental shooting by someone with your holster? You are no more responsible than the car dealer is if you're in an accidental collision.

Someone may well attempt to make you look responsible, and thus liable. Standard issue - especially if they know they are wrong, in which case the strategy is to baffle and muddy the water. But, you have to have done something BEYOND make a holster to be liable. Car manufacturers selling cars with exploding gas tanks - liable. Same car man selling perfectly sound cars to drunks and reprobates - not part of the same picture.

Unfortunately, you are as liable as a court is willing to hold you. Common sense does not apply to the law.

[St8LineGunsmith]

so in other words disclaimers of liability are not worth the paper they are printed on?

maker cannot be held liable for general stupidity of the user can they?

[Hi Im Joe]

so in other words disclaimers of liability are not worth the paper they are printed on?

maker cannot be held liable for general stupidity of the user can they?

The unfortunate answer is it depends. For example, if you go bungee jumping and sign a wavier saying if you die blah blah blah....but the guy forgets to clip you to the bungee...that waiver is totally worthless.

The more complicated question becomes is can negligence on the part of maker be proven in court. It's pretty hard to prove negligence but strange things have happened with juries so many times I wouldn't want to bet my livelihood on it.

[camano ridge]

Once it gets to court, you may not be held liable. However anyone can sue anybody for anything. City's and buisnessess (even small buisnesses) settle what are called frivilous law suits out of court all the time. Even if the suit has no merit by the time you compute hours going to an attorney, hours going to court cost of the attorney etc it adds up pretty quick. Just the attorney fees even if you don't go to court can cost you several thousand dollars. Many times a particular city I know of (and this is true of most city's) have paid $5,000. - $10,000.00 to some one who say, twisted there ankle (supposedely) stepping off a curve then files suit for $200,000.00 with no intention of getting that much but know they will get a a few thousand with out even having to work for it. Can you be held liable for some one elses stupidity there are many cases that prove you can. As mentioned earlier. Look at the lady that bought a hot cup of coffee from McDonalds dumped it in her own lap then sued McDonalds.

Edited May 13, 2014 by camano ridge

[chiefjason]

Define successful lawsuit....

My point is, there is a lot of conjecture that folks can point to this case and that case to prove. But are there a lot of lawsuits against holster makers? That would not be conjecture, it would be a number. I know there have been a few, but not sure how many. I don't plan on looking deeply into the McD's case but my understanding is that it's not as simple as a cup of hot coffee, like everything it's a bit more complicated than one hot cup of joe one time.

And on waivers, they are pretty much worth the paper they are printed on. I put some info with my holsters. But at the end of the day it's just a piece of paper. Anybody can sue any time.

[camano ridge]

I don't have any hard numbers, however a quick google for "holster maker sued" brought up several results. Man sues holster makers after shooting himself at courthouse

CHICAGO (STNG) - A man filed a lawsuit against a handgun holster company Wednesday, claiming a defective holster caused him to shoot himself at the Markham Courthouse in 2007.

John Bruno, a Lockport resident, was at the courthouse, 16501 S. Kedzie Pkwy., on Sept. 21, 2007 when he intended to re-holster his weapon, according to a suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

As he attempted to put the gun back into the holster, the weapon unexpectedly discharged, the suit said.

Bruno is suing Bushnell Outdoor Products, Michael’s of Oregon, Co., Uncle Mike’s and Kale Uniforms, Inc.—the companies that manufacture and sell the Kydex Belt Holster for Glock Model handguns—claiming the product was defective and caused him to shoot himself.

The suit claims the holster’s retention strap moved out of position when a weapon is being re-holstered, which causes the gun to discharge and, in Bruno’s case, caused him “severe” and “permanent” injuries.

It was unclear why Bruno had a weapon at the courthouse, and his lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

http://www.wbbm780.com/Man-sues-holster-makers-after-shooting-himself-at-/5239054

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-07-20/news/9407200320_1_holster-fatally-shot

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gun-258109-angeles-shot.html

I am not saying the sky is falling and all holster makers should be shivering in their boots. But it does happen and there are probably more not publicised that have been settled out of court by insurance companies etc. Even if the person filing a lawsuit looses it can still cost the defendant thousand in attorney fees.

Edited May 13, 2014 by camano ridge

[St8LineGunsmith]

My first question to the plantiff would have been why were you carrying a fire arm into the court house in the first place?

and my second would have been why are you carrying a firearm with a chambered cartridge and not on safe?

dont sound like faulty manufacturing to me, sounds more like a case of the gun handler not having safe gun handling skills to me.

JM.02

[JLSleather]

My first question to the plantiff would have been why were you carrying a fire arm into the court house in the first place?

and my second would have been why are you carrying a firearm with a chambered cartridge and not on safe?

dont sound like faulty manufacturing to me, sounds more like a case of the gun handler not having safe gun handling skills to me.

JM.02

This was my point. You CAN get 'sued' at any time, for any number of reasons (or no apparent reason at all). I'm simply pointing out that someone filing a piece of paper isn't - by itself - a major ordeal. If they want to spend their money on court filings and photocopying, have at it. But INSIDE the courtroom, you'll need to show that my actions caused your injury.

Keep in mind, not something to ignore either. While you're searching this stuff, you might try to find the percentage of judgments entered by default. In other words, how many suits "succeeded" simply because the person sued didn't take it seriously and respond?