I found the "original (?)" article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Jury awards $51 million to boy in accidental shooting; legislation could affect outcome
Thursday, May 8, 2003
(05-08) 06:38 PDT OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) --
A jury awarded $51 million in damages to boy who was accidentally shot and paralyzed in 1994, but the verdict may not stand because of pending legislation that would protect gun manufacturers from liability.
The jury awarded damages to Brandon Maxfield on Wednesday, two weeks after concluding that gun maker Bryco Arms was partially liable when he was shot in the jaw with a .38-caliber handgun that a family friend was trying to unload.
But it is unclear whether the verdict will survive. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed a bill to protect gun makers and distributors from being sued for damages; the bill is now awaiting Senate action.
Two weeks ago, the jury found Bryco 10 percent liable after concluding the company manufactured a defective firearm. To unload the weapon, a user must first unlock the trigger lock -- a dangerous and flawed system, according to the boy's attorney, Richard Ruggieri. Calls to Bryco went unanswered.
The gun's distributors were found 30 percent liable.
The jury said one-third of blame for the shooting falls on Maxfield's parents for leaving a loaded weapon in their Willits home. Jurors also found the shooter, family friend William Moreford, 20 percent liable.
If the award survives, each party may have to pay its percentage of the liability.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/05/08/national0938EDT0549.DTL
- Bryco 10%
- Distributors 30%
- Family one-third (33%)
- Babysitter 20%
Weird. It only adds up to 96.33%, it seems, at least from the article. There's 3.66% of the blame that is unaccounted for.
Bryco, the gunmaker, was held the least responsible. I would guess the family won't have to pay their minor son and will sign away his rights to sue both them and the babysitter before the boy reaches legal age. So, it will be 5.1 million for Bryco and 15.3 million for the distributors. Of the 20.4 million, the lawyer will probably grab at least 10 million, maybe more.
In other words, the parties least responsible, the gunmaker and the distributors, will pay all the award.
The parents (33%) and the distributros were most to blame, according to the jury. But why is the distributor to be considered so guilty? That makes no sense at all unless the distributors removed safety warnings and instructions or somehow modified the gun. But none of that makes any sense either.