Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 09:15:57 -0700
From: apfanning@psn.net ("Alan Fanning")
Subject: [lpaz-repost] Riverside sues gun maker in Miller slayin
To: lpaz-repost@onelist.com ("lpaz-repost")
http://www.inlandempireonline.com/news/stories/040700/guns.shtml
Riverside sues gun maker in Miller slaying
Lorcin, the Mira Loma manufacturer, failed to educate pistol users, the
suit claims.
By Lisa O'Neill Hill and John Welch
The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE
A gun manufacturer shares responsibility for Tyisha Miller's death for
selling the weapon she had on her lap when she was fatally shot by
police, the city of Riverside claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
Lorcin Engineering Co. should be named as a co-defendant along with the
city in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Tyisha Miller's family, said
Skip Miller, the city's attorney. (Join our discussion board on this
topic.)
The company is responsible for negligently marketing and distributing
the .38-caliber gun Miller had, the lawsuit contends. Lorcin failed to
educate or train users regarding the safe and correct way to use guns,
the suit states.
"We think they bear significant responsibility," said Skip Miller, who
is not related to Tyisha Miller.
No one associated with Lorcin was available for comment Thursday.
Supporters of Tyisha Miller said the city is trying to shift blame from
the officers who shot her to the gun manufacturer.
"I think what is unfortunate is that they are using a legitimate
concern, that being gun control, to serve an illegitimate purpose, which
is damage control," said Rev. Jesse Wilson, chairman of the Tyisha
Miller Steering Committee.
The city maintains that the shooting was preventable.
"This whole thing would not have occurred but for the presence of this
loaded Lorcin L380," Skip Miller said. "That gun should never have been
there.
"The city is not trying to pass the buck. The city has stepped up and
taken full responsibility . . . This whole thing was not entirely caused
by the city."
Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge said city officials are following Skip
Miller's advice in taking the legal action.
"You try to have the best defense of a case you can and Skip Miller is
one of the best in the business and I support his inclusion of the gun
manufacturer," Loveridge said.
Lorcin, which has been criticized for making guns that sell for less
than $100 each, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 1996 with
$1.08 million in assets and about $4.2 million in liabilities. Skip
Miller said Thursday the company is not bankrupt.
Bruce Jennings, owner of B.L. Jennings, a gun distribution company, said
he faxed a copy of the lawsuit to James Waldorf, a former Lorcin
president and chief executive officer. Waldorf did not want to comment
on the lawsuit, Jennings said.
The company and several other gun manufacturers have been sued in the
past over allegations that they marketed handguns irresponsibly.
James Waldorf has said that he was forced to close the Mira Loma plant
of Lorcin Engineering in 1999 because of the legal claims. The lawsuits
facing the company were intended to drive up the cost of all guns, he
said.
Last month he said the company beat back the claims by governments
against his company.
"Every single claim against Lorcin was dismissed, but at a very
expensive cost of $100,000 here, $100,000 there," in legal fees, Waldorf
said.
Waldorf has since started a company in Nevada.
Riverside joins cities across the country that have filed lawsuits
against gun makers. Chicago, New Orleans and Newark, N.J. are among the
municipalities that have taken legal action to recover costs associated
with gun violence.
"This is nothing new, nothing different," Jennings said. "It's exactly
the same allegations of the other 30 lawsuits brought on by cities
against gun manufacturers the past two years that have cost the firearms
industry tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds of millions of
dollars, in attorney fees."
Thursday's action is the most recent legal maneuvering in connection
with Miller's death and is part of the city's defense against a
wrongful-death lawsuit by Miller's family. Along with the city, two of
the officers who shot Miller and their supervisor are named as plantiffs
in the suit against Lorcin.
Miller, 19, was fatally shot by four white Riverside police officers as
she sat inside a locked, idling car at a Riverside gas station on Dec.
28, 1998. Her friends had called 911 after Miller appeared to be
unresponsive and in need of medical attention.
Officers said they shot the black Rubidoux woman in self-defense after
she reached for the gun on her lap. They were fired from the Police
Department for the tactics they used in the shooting.
Miller did not fire the gun, and investigators later determined that it
was inoperable.
By failing to educate users, "Lorcin proximately caused any and all harm
sustained by Miller and her parents resulting from her tragic death,"
the document states.
Lorcin should have known that failure to educate users could subject
them to deadly force resulting in injury or death at the hands of police
officers or others.
Staff writers John Welsh and David Danelski contributed to this report.
Published 4/7/2000
Enjoy the award-winning journalism of The New York Times with
convenient home delivery. And for a limited time, get 50% off for the
first 8 weeks by subscribing. Pay by credit card and receive an
additional 4 weeks at this low introductory rate.
http://click.egroups.com/1/3101/0/_/651531/_/955469662/
Community email addresses:
Post message: lpaz-repost@onelist.com
Subscribe: lpaz-repost-subscribe@onelist.com
Unsubscribe: lpaz-repost-unsubscribe@onelist.com
List owner: lpaz-repost-owner@onelist.com
Web site: www.ArizonaLibertarian.org
Shortcut URL to this page:
http://www.onelist.com/community/lpaz-repost