United States Second Circuit

Handgun manufacturers do not, under New York law, owe a duty to crime victims to exercise reasonable care in the marketing and distribution of the handguns they manufacture.

Appellate Information

• Argued 03/13/2000
• Decided 08/31/2001
• Published 08/31/2001

Judges

• CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:, Before CARDAMONE, and CABRANES, Circuit Judges, and TRAGER , District Judge.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, Albany, N.Y. (Preeta D. Bansal, Michael S. Belohlavek, Daniel Smirlock, Daniel Feldman, Natalie Gomez-Velez, Sachin S. Pandya, Adam L. Aronson, Office of the Attorney General, New York, New York, of counsel), for Amicus Curiae the State of New York., Michael D. Hess, Corporation Counsel, New York, N.Y. (Gail Rubin, Eric Proshansky, New York, New York, of counsel), for Amicus Curiae the City of New York.


• For Appellees:
  
• Lawrence S. Greenwald, Baltimore, MD (Nancy E. Paige, Catherine A. Bledsoe, Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, LLC, Baltimore, Maryland;  Lawrence G. Keane, Pino & Associates, White Plains, New York;  Daniel T. Hughes, Erin A. O'Leary, Morgan, Melhuish, Monaghan, Arvidson, Abrutyn & Lisowski, New York, New York, of counsel), for Defendants-Appellants Beretta U.S.A. Corp. and American Arms, Inc., Timothy A. Bumann, Budd Larner Gross Rosenbaum Greenberg & Sade, Atlanta, GA (Geoffrey Gaulkin, Dana S. Mancuso, Budd Larner Gross Rosenbaum Greenberg & Sade, Short Hills, New Jersey;  Barry R. Ostrager, Mary Beth Forshaw, Gerald E. Hawxhurst, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, New York;  Andrew Zajac, Fiedelman & McGaw, Jericho, New York, of counsel), for Defendants-Appellants Taurus International Manufacturing, Inc. and Colt's Manufacturing Co., Inc., Barry R. Ostrager, New York, N.Y. (Mary Beth Forshaw, Gerald E. Hawxhurst, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, New York;  Andrew Zajac, Fiedelman & McGaw, Jericho, New York, of counsel), for Defendant-Appellant Colt's Manufacturing Co., Inc., Marc E. Elovitz, New York, N.Y. (Michael S. Feldberg, Kefira R. Wilderman, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, New York, New York;  Elisa Barnes, New York, New York;  Denise Dunleavy, Weitz & Luxenberg, New York, New York, of counsel), for Plaintiffs-Appellees Gail Fox and Stephen Fox., Elisa Barnes, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellees Gail Fox and Stephen Fox., John B. Glendon, Pepper Hamilton LLP, New York, N.Y. (James M. Beck, Pepper Hamilton LLP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;  Hugh F. Young, Jr., Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., Reston, Virginia, of counsel), filed a brief for Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc. as Amicus Curiae in support of Defendants-Appellants., Peter J. Romatowski, Washington, DC (Victor E. Schwartz, Mark A. Behrens, Christopher J. McGuire, Crowell & Moring LLP, Washington, D.C.;  Robin S. Conrad, National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc., Washington, D.C., of counsel), filed a brief for Chamber of Commerce of the United States as Amicus Curiae in support of Defendants-Appellants., Pierce Gore, New York, N.Y. (Steven E. Fineman, Robert J. Nelson, Jonathan D. Selbin, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, New York, New York, of counsel), filed a brief for The Cities of Boston, Massachusetts, Camden, New Jersey, Chicago, Illinois, Los Angeles, The City and County of San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, Berkeley, East Palo Alto, Compton, Inglewood and West Hollywood and the Counties of Los Angeles, Alameda and San Mateo, California as Amici Curiae in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees., Jeffrey R. White, Washington, DC (Richard H. Middleton, The Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Washington, D.C.;  Misty Farris, Thomas Simms, Baron & Budd, P.C., Dallas, Texas, of counsel), filed a brief for The Association of Trial Lawyers of America as Amicus Curiae in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees., Rachana Bhowmik, Washington, DC (Dennis A. Henigan, Jonathan E. Lowy, Brian J. Siebel, Allen Rostron, Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, Washington, D.C., of counsel), filed a brief for The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Association of Suicidology, The American Jewish Congress Commission on Law and Social Action, Common Cause, The Educational Fund to End Handgun Violence, The National Association of Elementary School Principals, The National Association of School Psychologists, The National Association of Secondary School Principals, The National Spinal Cord Injury Association, and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice as Amici Curiae in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees.