Merrill

On July 1, 1993, Gian Luigi Ferri killed eight people and wounded six—and then killed himself—during a shooting rampage at 101 California Street, a high-rise office building in San Francisco. Survivors and representatives of some of Ferri’s victims (plaintiffs) sued defendant Nave-gar, Inc. (Navegar), which made two of the three weapons Ferri used.

We granted review to determine whether plaintiffs may hold Navegar liable on a common law negligence theory. We hold they may not, because the Legislature has declared as a matter of public policy that a gun manufacturer may not be held liable “[i]n a products liability action ... on the basis that the benefits of [its] product do not outweigh the risk of injury posed by [the product’s] potential to cause serious injury, damage, or death when discharged.” (Civ. Code, § 1714.4, subd. (a).) 1 That, in essence, is plaintiffs’ theory of recovery here: that Navegar defectively designed the weapons Ferri used because, given their particular characteristics, the benefits of making them available to the general public—which were nonexistent—did not outweigh the risk they might inflict serious injury or death when discharged. The…

I join in the majority opinion.

One cannot read the facts of this case without feeling the utmost sympathy for the families of the eight persons killed and for the six others wounded by Gian Luigi Ferri, who in his rampage used two TEC-9 assault weapons manufactured by defendant Navegar, Inc. And one feels dismay at the insensitivity of defendant’s marketing director, who had told the New York Times that he welcomed damning criticism by law enforcement of the TEC-9, a- popular weapon with criminals. He explained: “I’m kind of flattered. It just has that advertising tingle to it. Hey, it’s talked about, it’s read about, the media write about it. That generates more sales for me.”

Whatever personal emotions and personal views members of this court may have in this tragic case, those feelings must be put aside in resolving the narrow legal question decided here. The issue requires an interpretation of subdivision (a) of Civil Code section 1714.4, which provides that in an action for products liability “no firearm . . . shall be deemed defective in design on the basis that the benefits of the product do not outweigh the risk of injury posed by its potential to cause serious injury,…

I respectfully dissent. I cannot accept the majority’s conclusion that plaintiffs are statutorily barred from suing the maker of the semiautomatic assault weapon used to massacre the victims in this case. Neither the letter of Civil Code section 1714.4 nor the legislative policy it embodies bars this action for negligence in the marketing of a firearm.

*493 Complex though some of the issues in this case are, the statutory question addressed by the majority can be resolved simply. Civil Code section 1714.4 bars product liability actions against gunmakers based on the risk-benefit theory of product defect. The legislative policy behind the statute might, at most, be deemed also to encompass negligence claims that are substantially identical to risk-benefit product defect claims. Plaintiffs’ claim is neither. Plaintiffs’ claim of negligence is, at bottom, that defendant Navegar, Inc. (Navegar) acted without due care in distributing the TEC-9/DC9—a semiautomatic handgun combining portability and ease of use with an extraordinary rapidity and capacity for lethal firepower—to the general civilian public rather than restricting its sales to police and military units that might have a…

On July 1, 1993, Gian Luigi Ferri killed eight people and wounded six—and then killed himself—during a shooting rampage at 101 California Street, a high-rise office building in San Francisco. Survivors and representatives of some of Ferri's victims (plaintiffs) sued defendant Navegar, Inc. (Navegar), which made two of the three weapons Ferri used.

We granted review to determine whether plaintiffs may hold Navegar liable on a common law negligence theory. We hold they may not, because the Legislature has declared as a matter of public policy that a gun manufacturer may not be held liable "[i]n a products liability action . . . on the basis that the benefits of [its] product do not outweigh the risk of injury posed by [the product's] potential to cause serious injury, damage, or death when discharged." (Civ.Code, § 1714.4, subd. (a).) [1] That, in essence, is plaintiffs' theory of recovery here: that Navegar defectively designed the weapons Ferri used `because, given their particular characteristics, the benefits of making them available to the general public—which were nonexistent— did not outweigh the risk they might inflict serious injury or death when discharged. The…