Thanks for the link. I looked in the local paper (Lake/Porter Co) and WLS radio but could find nothing.
That copied terrible and is hard to read, sorry.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/16108593.htm
Posted on Mon, Nov. 27,
Gun makers to appeal ruling that allows lawsuit to continue
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS - Gun makers are moving to appeal a judge's ruling that declared a year-old federal law shielding them from lawsuits as unconstitutional.
Attorney filed initial paperwork last week needed to appeal the ruling, which allows the city of Gary's lawsuit to continue against 16 gun makers and six northern Indiana gun dealers.
That lawsuit, which has survived several hurdles, alleges that makers and dealers sold weapons they knew would end up in criminals' hands.
Gun makers had sought to have the case dismissed under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which Congress passed in 2005. The law grants the industry broad protections from municipalities and victims seeking damages for gun-related violence.
But in October, Lake Superior Court Judge Robert A. Pete ruled that the law violates the due process and separation of powers clauses of the U.S. Constitution, writing that it "is clearly an act which was passed in response to pressure from the gun industry."
Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade association, said Congress has the right to ban the lawsuits.
"We believe that the judge's decision is flawed as a matter of law and constitutional analysis," Keane said. "We think we're going to clearly win on appeal."
The Washington, D.C.-based Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which is helping represent the city of Gary, has hailed the ruling as significant.
"It's gratifying to us that this bill, which was clearly a special-interest payoff to the gun industry and the gun lobby, was struck down by one of the courts that looked at it," said Brian Siebel, a senior attorney with the Brady Center.
But Ivan Bodensteiner, a constitutional law professor at Valparaiso University School of Law, said a ruling by a judge in Indiana does not bind a judge in another state, and such decisions do not often get widely cited.
After the city filed its lawsuit in 1999, the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill the next year to ban lawsuits by other municipalities.
A Lake County judge dismissed the Gary case in 2001, saying the city cannot fault businesses beyond its jurisdiction for others' crimes. But the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in 2003 - before the retroactive federal law was passed - that the lawsuit could proceed.