By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - Sig Sauer, the firearms manufacturer, must face a product liability lawsuit by an upstate New York police officer who was injured when his semi-automatic pistol inadvertently fired during a training exercise, a divided federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan revived claims by Michael Colwell, a Troy Police Department detective who said he suffered a leg injury when his department-issued P320 discharged
in June 2021 despite being holstered. He said he never touched the trigger.
Writing for a 2-1 majority, Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch said a reasonable jury could find it more likely than not that the accident would not have happened had Colwell's pistol been equipped with an external safety known as a tabbed trigger.
He said jurors could use common sense to decide whether any "foreign object" likely caused Colwell's P320 to go off, and would not have done so if the trigger were tabbed.
Sig Sauer and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Many law enforcement agencies and the U.S. military use the P320, and Sig Sauer sells a version for civilians.
The Newington, New Hampshire-based company has long defended the safety of the P320, and its website says the pistol "cannot under any circumstance discharge without a trigger pull."
The company has nonetheless faced dozens of lawsuits alleging that the P320's defective design leaves the pistol susceptible to firing unintentionally.
Robert Zimmerman, a lawyer for Colwell and his wife, said they looked forward to a jury trial.
"We’re aware of over 500 unintended discharges of this product, which is a staggering and unacceptable number," Zimmerman added.
DISSENTING JUDGE SAYS JURORS WERE LEFT TO GUESS
The appeals court revived Colwell's case despite finding the trial judge properly excluded experts' testimony about the P320's alleged defective design, saying they didn't explain how the absence of an external safety caused Colwell’s injury specifically.
Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan dissented. He found no evidence suggesting what caused Colwell's gun to fire, and said that question turned on complicated issues of physics, engineering and ergonomics that ordinary jurors wouldn't understand.
"The jury could do little more than guess," Sullivan wrote.
Lynch said the federal appeals court in Denver ruled in Sig Sauer's favor last June in a similar case lacking causation testimony.
He said that case differed from Colwell's because the plaintiff didn't identify what parts of his body or holster did or did not contact the trigger of his P320.
Lynch and Circuit Judge Pierre Leval, who formed Thursday's majority, were appointed to the 2nd Circuit by Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, respectively. Sullivan was appointed by Republican President Donald Trump.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci )
