Boston v. Smith & Wesson Corp.
| Decision Date | 13 July 2000 |
| Docket Number | 199902590 |
| Citation | 2000 MBAR 241 |
| Parties | City of Boston & another1 v. Smith & Wesson Corp. & others2 |
| Court | Massachusetts Superior Court |
Mass L. Rptr. Cite: 12 Mass. L. Rptr. 225
Judge (with first initial, no space for Sullivan, Dorsey, and Walsh): HINKLE
This is an action by the City of Boston and the Boston Public Health Commission against various firearms manufacturers distributors, sellers and promoters, including firearms industry trade associations.3 In a detailed six-count complaint,4 Plaintiffs seek to recover damages allegedly sustained through conduct of Defendants.5 Briefly stated, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants, through a strategy of willful blindness, exploit and rely upon for profit an illegal, secondary firearms market of juveniles, criminals and other unauthorized gun users in Boston. Plaintiffs allegedly bear immense costs arising from this market. Plaintiffs also allege that Defendants design guns without readily available safety devices and fail to warn of certain dangers.
The matter is before the court on the motion of the manufacturing defendants to dismiss the First Amended Complaint under Mass.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. After a hearing, for the reasons discussed below, the motion to dismiss is ALLOWED in part and DENIED in part.6
The factual allegations contained in the First Amended Complaint,7 as relevant to each of the theories of liability, are summarized as follows.8 For clarity, additional factual allegations are set forth in the discussion section where pertinent.
Plaintiffs allege that Boston faces a high level of violent crime9 involving guns manufactured by Defendants.10 Easy movement of firearms from the legal marketplace to unauthorized and illegal users,11 through an illegal, secondary firearms market, fuels the gun violence.12
Plaintiffs also allege that the flow of firearms into the illegal market and into the hands of unauthorized users in Boston has occurred in ways Defendants knew or should have known. Plaintiffs claim that Defendants could have taken action to control and prevent the illegal diversion. The methods of illegal diversion include, according to Plaintiffs: (1) straw purchases, which occurred under circumstances which indicated or should have indicated to the dealer that a straw purchase was being made; (2) multiple sales (where a purchaser buys more than one gun, at one time or over a short period, from a licensed dealer with the intent of conveying the gun to another person not qualified to purchase guns), occurring under circumstances which indicated or should have indicated to the seller that the gun was destined for the unlawful market; (3) sales to "kitchen table" dealers (federally licensed dealers who do not sell from a retail store) by Defendants, even though Defendants knew or should have known that many of those dealers fail to perform background checks or otherwise illegally divert guns to the illegal market; (4) theft of guns from firearm dealers who failed to provide adequate security for their premises, where Defendants failed to ensure that persons distributing their products have implemented adequate security measures; (5) obliteration of serial numbers from guns, where Defendants, though aware of this problem, took no initiative to make their serial numbers tamper-proof; (6) movement of firearms from states with weak gun control laws to areas (such as Boston) with stronger laws; and (7) sales at gun shows, where background checks are usually not required. These guns are often used in more than one crime.
Plaintiffs allege that Defendants' distribution system is reckless and has caused firearms to come into the hands of unauthorized persons, causing Plaintiffs direct harm.13 Plaintiffs claim that Defendants knew that their guns were distributed into the illegal, secondary market and knew that this market supplied a substantial percentage of firearms used to inflict harm upon Plaintiffs.14 According to Plaintiffs, Defendants could have helped to prevent firearms they manufacture, market, distribute and sell from flowing into the illegal market and into the hands of unauthorized persons.15
Plaintiffs also claim that Defendants' guns are unsafely designed in that Defendants fail to incorporate features which would inhibit unlawful access, transfer or theft by criminals, juveniles and other unauthorized users. The defective design results in thousands of unintentional deaths and non-fatal injuries per year, according to Plaintiffs.16 Plaintiffs claim that failure to incorporate "personalized" gun technology (to prevent unauthorized or prohibited persons from obtaining access to and using guns) results in homicides and other crimes, some of which occur in Boston.
Plaintiffs claim that Defendants are in the best position to conduct research to correct the design of their guns. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants have been aware of the need for design features which would inhibit straw purchases, reuse of stolen weapons and accidental discharges by unauthorized users, but that Defendants have failed to research, develop and implement feasible, available technology.
According to Plaintiffs, it has been reasonably foreseeable that Defendants' guns would come into the hands of unauthorized users.17 Plaintiffs claim that Defendants have been aware or should have been aware that, when unauthorized users gain access to Defendants' guns, shootings may result. Unintentional shootings, suicides and crimes committed by juveniles and other unauthorized users could be prevented if Defendants implemented safer gun designs, Plaintiffs allege. Such designs, according to Plaintiffs, include built-in locking systems, magazine-disconnect safeties and chamber-loaded indicators. Plaintiffs claim that Defendants knew that by failing to implement such safety designs, it was reasonably foreseeable that stolen guns could be employed by unauthorized or prohibited users in violent criminal acts. Plaintiffs claim that they have been repeatedly victimized by Defendants' "unreasonably dangerous products."18
According to Plaintiffs, when Defendants manufactured, distributed, promoted, and/or sold these guns, they knew or should have known of the unreasonable dangers of the guns; Defendants knew of and had available to them safety devices or other measures which would decrease the dangers; Defendants are in the best position to correct the unreasonably dangerous design of their products, but have failed to remedy the deficiency and Defendants purposefully and intentionally engaged in their activities knowing that their products could be made to prevent firing by unauthorized users and knowing that Plaintiffs would be injured and forced to bear substantial expenses. Plaintiffs further allege that Defendants have acted in concert with each other in their failure to develop and implement safety features and implement proper warnings.
Plaintiffs claim that, to increase profits, Defendants have knowingly, purposefully, intentionally or negligently misled, deceived and confused Boston and its citizens regarding the safety of firearms. Defendants did this, Plaintiffs allege, by claiming falsely and deceptively through advertising that firearm ownership enhances security and that firearms are safe. Plaintiffs say that when Defendants made these claims, Defendants knew or should have known that studies and statistics show that presence of firearms in the home increases the risk of harm and that firearms without locking devices are unsafe.19 Plaintiffs claim that, in Boston, numerous deaths and injuries have occurred when firearms were foreseeably used in unintentional shootings, suicides by teenagers, domestic disputes and other acts of violence.
Plaintiffs allege that Defendants' conduct undermines the Commonwealth's public policy regarding handguns. Plaintiffs further allege that Defendants' conduct has caused Plaintiffs harm, including substantial financial costs for prevention, amelioration and abatement of the ongoing public nuisance caused by Defendants; increased spending on law enforcement, emergency rescue services, increased security at public schools and public buildings, costs for coroner and funeral services for unknown victims, pensions, disability, and unemployment benefits, higher prison costs and youth intervention programs and lower tax revenues and lower property values.
The standard for evaluating the sufficiency of a complaint under Mass.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) is undisputed. The court must accept as true the allegations of the complaint, as well as any reasonable inferences to be drawn from them in the plaintiff's favor. Eyal v. Helen Broad Corp. 411 Mass. 426, 429 (1991). Plaintiffs "need only surmount a minimal hurdle to survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim." Bell v. Mazza, 394 Mass. 176, 184 (1985). A "complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Nader v. Citron, 372 Mass. 96, 98 (1977) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46 (1957)). "[A] complaint is not subject to dismissal if it would support relief on any theory of law," Whitinsville Plaza, Inc. v. Kotseas, 378 Mass. 85, 89 (1979) (citations omitted; emphasis in original), "even though the particular relief [which the plaintiff] has demanded and the theory on which he seems to rely may not be appropriate." Nader, 372 Mass. at 104 (citations omitted). In addition, "[a] complaint should not be dismissed simply because it asserts a new or extreme theory of liability or improbable facts." Jenkins v. Jenkins, 15 Mass.App.Ct. 934, 934 (1983).
In this case, D...
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