CITY OF PHILADELPHIA v. BERETTA U.S.A. CORP.

No. 01-1118.

277 F.3d 415 (2002)

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA; Guardian Civic League of Philadelphia; Aspira, Inc. of Pennsylvania; Residents Advisory Board; Northeast Home and School; Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, Appellants, v. BERETTA U.S.A. CORP.; Browning Inc.; Bryco Arms, Inc.; Colts Manufacturing Co., Inc.; Glock, Inc.; Harrington & Richardson, Inc. ("H & R"); International Armament Corp., d/b/a Interarms Industries, Inc.; Kel-Tec CNC Industries, Inc.; Lorcin Engineering Co., Inc.; Navegar, Inc., d/b/a Intratec; Phoenix/Raven Arms; Smith & Wesson Corp. Inc.; Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.; Taurus International Firearms.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Filed January 11, 2002.

Amended January 22, 2002.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Kenneth I. Trujillo, City Solicitor, William R. Thompson, Chair of Litigation, Richard Feder, Chief Deputy City Solicitor, Appeals Marcia Berman (argued), Deputy City Solicitor, Appeals Elise M. Bruhl, Assistant City Solicitor, Appeals Mary F. Dixon, Assistant City Solicitor, Appeals City of Philadelphia Law Department, One Parkway Building, 1515 Arch Street, 17th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102-1595. Michael J. Boni, Kohn, Swift & Graf, One South Broad Street, Suite 2100, Philadelphia, PA 19107, Richard Lewis, Alexander Barnett, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, West Tower, Suite 500, 1100 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005-3964, Robert Nelson, Jonathan Selbin, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, 275 Battery Street, 30th Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94111, Christopher R. Booth, Jr., Booth & Tucker, 230 South Broad Street, 2nd floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102, Attorneys for appellants.

Lawrence S. Greenwald (argued), Catherine A. Bledsoe, Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, 233 East Redwood Street, Baltimore, M.D. 21202, Louis R. Moffa, Jr., Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, 220 Lake Drive East, Suite 200, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08002-1165, Attorneys for appellee, Beretta U.S.A. Corp.

Eric A. Weiss, Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, 1845 Walnut Street, 16th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103, William M. Griffin, III, Jonann Coniglio, Friday, Eldredge & Clark, Suite 2000, 400 West Capitol, Little Rock, AR 72201-3493, Attorneys for appellee Browning, Inc.

Robert E. Scott, Jr., Scott H. Phillips, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, 250 West Pratt Street, Baltimore, M.D. 21201, Debra S. Dunne, Thorp, Reed & Armstrong, 2005 Market Street, One Commerce Square, Suite 2010, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Michael C. Hewitt, Bruinsma & Hewitt, 380 Clinton Ave., Unit C, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, Attorneys for appellee Bryco Arms, Inc.

Thomas E. Fennell (argued), Michael L. Rice, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, 2727 North Harwood Street, Suite 100, Dallas, TX 75266-1515, John E. Iole, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Suite 3100, 500 Grant St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219-2502, Attorneys for appellee Colts Manufacturing Co., Inc.

John F. Renzulli, Renzulli & Rutherford, 300 East 42nd Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10017, Attorneys for appellee Glock, Inc. and Kel-Tec CNC, Industries, Inc.

Bradley T. Beckman, Beckman & Associates, Suite 910, 2 Penn Center Plaza, Philadelphia, PA 19102, Michael I. Branisa, Michael J. Zomcik, Tarics & Carrington, 5005 Riverway Drive, Suite 500, Houston, TX 77056-2196, Attorneys for appellee Phoenix Arms.

Jeffrey S. Nelson, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, 1200 Main Street, One Kansas City Place, Kansas City, MO 64105-2718, Robert C. Heim, George M. Gowen, III, Dechert, Price & Rhoads, 1717 Arch Street, 4000 Bell Atlantic Tower, Philadelphia, PA 19103-2793, Attorneys for appellee Smith & Wesson Corp., Inc.

Robert N. Spinelli, Catherine Jasons, Kelley, Jasons, McGuire & Spinelli, 1500 Market Street, Suite 1500, Centre Square West, Philadelphia, PA 19102, James P. Dorr, Sarah L. Olson, Jeffrey A. McIntyre, Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, 225 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606, Attorneys for appellee Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.

Timothy A. Bumann, Budd, Larner, Gross, Rosenbaum, Greenberg & Sade, 127 Peachtree Street, N.E., Suite 715, Atlanta, GA 30303-1601, Christina Fichera Dente, Budd, Larner, Gross, Rosenbaum, Greenberg & Sade, 150 John F. Kennedy Parkway, CN 1000 Short Hills, N.J. 07078-0999, Attorneys for appellee Taurus International Firearms.

James M. Beck, Pepper Hamilton, 18th & Arch Streets, 3000 Two Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103-2799, Hugh F. Young, Jr., Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., 1800 Centennial Park Drive, Suite 510, Reston, VA 22091, Attorneys for amicus curiae Product Liability Advisory Council.

Before: ALITO, AMBRO, and GREENBERG, Circuit Judges.


OPINION OF THE COURT

GREENBERG, Circuit Judge.

This matter comes on before this court on appeal from an order of the district court granting defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiffs' complaint. See City of Philadelphia v. Beretta, 126 F.Supp.2d 882 (E.D.Pa.2000) ("Beretta"). On this appeal, we determine whether the defendant gun manufacturers can be liable...

Let's get started

Leagle.com

Welcome to the leading source of independent legal reporting
Sign on now to see your case.
Or view more than 10 million decisions and orders.

  • Updated daily.
  • Uncompromising quality.
  • Complete, Accurate, Current.

Listed below are the cases that are cited in this Featured Case. Click the citation to see the full text of the cited case. Citations are also linked in the body of the Featured Case.

Cited Cases

  • No Cases Found

Listed below are those cases in which this Featured Case is cited. Click on the case name to see the full text of the citing case.

Citing Cases