A Philadelphia jury awarded $11 million on Wednesday to a person whose holstered Sig Sauer pistol went off by itself whereas he was happening the steps, inflicting a critical leg harm — the second main verdict this yr in opposition to the embattled gun producer over its P320 mannequin.
After a three-week trial, the jury concluded that New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer was negligent for promoting a faulty gun and holster. The plaintiff’s attorneys stated the P320 pistol is vulnerable to going off with out the set off being pulled, a defect that has led to scores of accidents across the U.S.
Greater than 100 folks have come ahead to make related allegations in regards to the P320. Sig Sauer insists the gun is secure.
“We’ve been asking Sig for over three years now to recall this gun, to fix it, and frankly to use the same type of safeties that other manufacturers are using that Sig Sauer is not,” Robert W. Zimmerman, the plaintiff’s lawyer, stated after the decision.
He added that the decision “sends a strong message to Sig Sauer that they need to do something with this gun.”
Zimmerman represented George Abrahams, a U.S. Military veteran and portray contractor in Philadelphia, who has stated he holstered his P320, put it within the pocket of his athletic pants and zipped it up earlier than going downstairs. The gun went off and the bullet tore by means of his proper thigh, exiting above the knee, inflicting everlasting accidents, in response to courtroom paperwork.
At trial, Sig Sauer sought to shift blame to Abrahams. The corporate stated in a assertion posted on its web site that jurors had “agreed that plaintiff’s own negligence contributed to his accident,” and it defended the P320 as “among the most tested, proven, and successful handguns in recent history.”
“We strongly disagree with the verdict in this unintended discharge lawsuit … and will be appealing the decision on multiple grounds,” the corporate stated.
Earlier this yr, a federal jury awarded $2.35 million to a Georgia man who was wounded when his holstered P320 went off. Zimmerman’s regulation agency, Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, additionally represented that plaintiff, and has a raft of different pending claims in opposition to Sig Sauer. The corporate has indicated it plans to enchantment the Georgia verdict.
“We have said it before, and juries are now speaking loud and clear with their verdicts; this gun is a danger to gun owners and anyone within the vicinity of this gun,” Ryan Hurd, Zimmerman’s co-counsel, stated in an announcement Wednesday.
Abrahams’ lawsuit, which was filed in 2022, recounted dozens of unintended discharge incidents involving the P320, of which attorneys have estimated there are a few half-million in circulation within the U.S. The go well with asserted the P320 “is the most dangerous pistol for its users sold in the United States market.”
The navy model of the pistol comes with an exterior security to stop unintended discharges, in response to plaintiffs’ attorneys, however the mannequin bought to police departments and civilians doesn’t.
In 2019, the unintentional discharge of a Philadelphia transit officer’s holstered P320 prompted SEPTA, town’s transit company, to take away all of its P320 handguns from service and change them with Glocks.
Sig Sauer has settled at the least one federal class motion lawsuit involving the P320, involving pistols made earlier than 2017, providing refunds or alternative weapons to purchasers.
