…ERNESTO LIKELY TO BRING STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY RAINS TO PORTIONS OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS BEGINNING LATE TONIGHT…
As of 8:00 PM AST Mon Aug 12
the center of Ernesto was located near 16.0, -58.5
with movement W at 28 mph.
The minimum central pressure was 1009 mb
with maximum sustained winds of about 40 mph.
Day: August 12, 2024
Earth hit by ‘severe’ solar storm
The Earth was hit Monday by an intense solar storm that could bring the northern lights to night skies further south than normal, a US agency announced. Conditions of a level-four geomagnetic storm — on a scale of five — were observed Monday from 1500 GMT, according to a specialized center at the US National […]
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Smith & Wesson Asks US Supreme Court To Expedite Its Appeal Of Mexico Lawsuit
Smith & Wesson Asks US Supreme Court To Expedite Its Appeal Of Mexico Lawsuit
Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
U.S. gun maker Smith & Wesson asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 8 for “immediate review” of its appeal in Mexico’s ongoing $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. firearms companies.
The request was made after a lower court on Aug. 7 threw out the case against six out of eight gun companies in the lawsuit, which is pending in federal district court in Massachusetts. The decision left gun maker Smith & Wesson and gun wholesaler Interstate Arms remaining as defendants.
In the suit, Mexico is seeking $10 billion from U.S. gun companies for allegedly flooding that country with firearms. Mexico blames the companies for a violent crime wave, saying their actions benefited criminal cartels.
Although some gun control activists welcome Mexico’s lawsuit, gun rights advocates say it constitutes foreign interference in U.S. affairs and is aimed at crippling the U.S. firearms industry and weakening the Second Amendment protections enjoyed by Americans.
The gun companies say the suit is barred by the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) of 2005, which was enacted to protect the industry from frivolous lawsuits.
The Supreme Court already is scheduled to consider on Sept. 30 whether to hear the appeal of the eight gun companies called Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
The appeal concerns the Jan. 22 decision of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit that allowed the lawsuit to proceed.
Circuit Judge William Kayatta wrote that even though the PLCAA limits lawsuits that foreign governments may bring in U.S. courts for harm experienced outside the United States, Mexico could move forward because it made a plausible argument that the companies committed “knowing violations of statutes regulating the sale or marketing of firearms.”
Mexico claims that illegal gun trafficking into that country is driven largely by Mexican drug cartels’ demands for military-style weapons.
Kayatta wrote that a spike in gun violence in Mexico in recent years “correlates” with the boost in gun production in the United States that started when the U.S. assault weapon ban lapsed in 2004.
The First Circuit returned the case to U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor of Massachusetts, who had previously dismissed the lawsuit against all eight corporate defendants on Sept. 30, 2022.
Saylor found in 2022 that the PLCAA “unequivocally bars lawsuits seeking to hold gun manufacturers responsible for the acts of individuals using guns for their intended purpose.”
When Saylor revisited the case on Aug. 7, he ruled that Mexico had failed to present enough evidence to show that six of the companies were connected to gun crime in Mexico.
The six defendants Saylor dismissed from the suit are Sturm, Ruger & Co.; Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc.; Glock Inc.; Colt’s Manufacturing Co. LLC; Century International Arms Inc.; and Beretta U.S.A. Corp.
Mexico indicated it may appeal the dismissal decision.
In the meantime, this means that Smith & Wesson and Witmer Public Safety Group, which does business as Interstate Arms, are still named as defendants in the suit pending in Saylor’s court.
In the Aug. 8 filing, Smith & Wesson attorney Noel Francisco of Jones Day in Washington told the Supreme Court that “immediate review … is still needed” because Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms are “unaffected by” the Aug. 7 decision.
“As a result, Mexico is still pursuing ‘joint and several’ liability—to the tune of billions of dollars, plus far-reaching injunctive relief—against those two defendants,” Francisco wrote.
With joint and several liability, a plaintiff who secures a judgment against the defendants collectively may collect the full value of the judgment from any of the defendants.
“So just as before, leading members of the American firearms industry are facing years of litigation costs and the specter of business-crushing liability,” Francisco wrote.
“And just as before, this Court’s review is warranted now, because Congress made clear in PLCAA that this sort of lawfare against any law-abiding member of the firearms industry has no business in American courts, and must be promptly dismissed.”
Lawfare is the strategic use of legal proceedings to undermine or frustrate the efforts of an opponent.
Mexico argued in a brief that it filed with the Supreme Court on July 3 that the First Circuit’s decision was correct.
The lawsuit should be allowed to proceed because the companies “deliberately chose to engage in unlawful … conduct to profit off the criminal market for their products.”
According to the brief, the gun companies were wrong to argue that the prospect of them being held “liable for negligence and public nuisance” presents “an existential threat to the gun industry.”
Mexico’s attorney, Cate Stetson of Hogan Lovells in Washington, didn’t respond by publication time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
Stephen Katte contributed to this report.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 – 17:40
Teens majority of ISIS-linked arrests in Europe, rise in concerns over extremists targeting minors
Two-thirds of ISIS terrorism arrrests in Europe are teenagers.
Fauci Says He’s Infected With COVID For Third Time After Being Vaccinated And Boosted Six Times
Anthony Fauci recently revealed that he contracted COVID for the third time, despite being vaccinated and boosted a total of six times. He said this in an exclusive video interview with Jeremy Faust, MD, editor-in-chief of MedPage Today. Former NIAID Director Fauci talks about masking, his third time COVID infection, and more Fauci, MD, former […]
The post Fauci Says He’s Infected With COVID For Third Time After Being Vaccinated And Boosted Six Times appeared first on Insider Paper.
IAEA Confirms "No Impact On Nuclear Safety" After Zaporizhzhia Power Plant Fire
IAEA Confirms “No Impact On Nuclear Safety” After Zaporizhzhia Power Plant Fire Update (Monday): The geopolitical environment in Eastern Europe and the Middle East is quickly heating up, with Ukraine at the center of attention on Sunday evening. Europe can breathe a major sigh of relief after an alleged drone strike on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been reported…
Tropical Storm Ernesto Forecast Discussion
Issued at 500 PM AST Mon Aug 12 2024
Tropical Storm Ernesto Wind Speed Probabilities
Issued at 2100 UTC MON AUG 12 2024
Tropical Storm Ernesto Advisory Number 5
…DISTURBANCE BECOMES TROPICAL STORM ERNESTO… …EXPECTED TO BRING TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS AND HEAVY RAINS TO PORTIONS OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS BEGINNING LATE TONIGHT…
As of 5:00 PM AST Mon Aug 12
the center of Ernesto was located near 16.0, -57.5
with movement WNW at 28 mph.
The minimum central pressure was 1009 mb
with maximum sustained winds of about 40 mph.
Tropical Storm Ernesto Forecast Advisory
Issued at 2100 UTC MON AUG 12 2024