Sig Sauer, faced with lawsuits over a popular pistol, gets protection in New Hampshire

CONCORD, N.H. — Faced with mounting lawsuits over a popular pistol, New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer asked for — and got — protection in the form of a new state law that makes it harder to take the gunmaker to court.

Supporters in the Republican-led Legislature said the law was needed to help a major employer. The lawsuits say Sig Sauer's P320 pistol can go off without the trigger being pulled, an allegation the company denies.

The law covers all gun manufacturers and federal firearm licensees in product liability claims regarding the ''absence or presence'' of four specific safety features. One of those features is an external mechanical safety that people suing Sig Sauer say should be standard on the P320, based on its design. Claims can still be filed over manufacturing defects.

Those who have sued Sig Sauer in New Hampshire and elsewhere include police, federal law enforcement officers, and other experienced gun users from multiple states who say they were wounded by the gun.

The manufacturer has prevailed in some cases. It is appealing two recent multimillion-dollar verdicts against it, in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

George Abrahams a U.S. Army veteran and painting contractor in Philadelphia who won his case, said he had holstered his P320, put it in the pocket of his athletic pants and zipped it up before going downstairs.

"All I did was come down the stairway and there was a loud explosion, and then the excruciating pain and bleeding,'' he told The Associated Press in 2022. He said the bullet tore through his right thigh.

The company, which employs over 2,000 people in a state with permissive gun laws, says the P320 has internal safety mechanisms and ''has undergone the most rigorous testing and evaluation of any firearm, by military and law enforcement agencies around the world." It says the problem is user error or incompatible holsters, not the design.

''Do you want people to be able to sue car manufacturers because they sell cars that don't have air conditioning?'' state Rep. Terry Roy, a Republican from Deerfield, told the House during debate in May.

Opponents criticized the bill as a special exemption in liability law that has never been granted to any other New Hampshire company.

''I think there is a difference between helping out a large employer and creating an exemption that actually hurts people and doesn't give them their day in court,'' state Rep. David Meuse, a Democrat from Portsmouth, said in an interview. His district covers Newington, where Sig Sauer is headquartered.

A 2005 federal law gives the gun industry broad legal immunity. New Hampshire was already among 32 states that have adopted gun immunity laws in some form, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Some states also have repealed gun industry immunity statutes or weakened them.

Sig Sauer seeks help

A Sig Sauer executive asked New Hampshire lawmakers for help in April, two weeks after a Pennsylvania-based law firm filed its most recent lawsuit in federal court in Concord on March 26 over the design of the P320. The firm represents over 100 people who have filed such lawsuits, including more than 70 in New Hampshire.

''We're fighting all these court cases out of town and every single court case we have to fight takes away money from Granite State residents and workers that we can employ and technology,'' testified Bobby Cox, vice president of governmental affairs for the company.

The measure took effect once Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed it on May 23. Legislators said it doesn't apply to the current lawsuits. However, lawyers for Sig Sauer mentioned it as part of their argument to dismiss the March case or break up and transfer the claims of 22 plaintiffs to court districts where they live. A hearing on the matter is set for July 21.

Ayotte's office did not respond to an AP request seeking comment, but it told The Keene Sentinel that she's ''proud to protect New Hampshire companies that create thousands of good-paying jobs from frivolous lawsuits.''

''Out-of-state trial lawyers looking to make money will not find a venue in New Hampshire,'' Ayotte's office said in an emailed statement to the newspaper.

Robert Zimmerman, the plaintiffs' lead attorney in Pennsylvania, said the goal of the lawsuits is to get the weapon's design changed so that it's safe for the people who use it.

New Hampshire was the chosen location because federal rules allow lawsuits against a company in its home state, Zimmerman said. Those lawsuits have been assigned to one federal judge in Concord.

''Sig is trying to strategically decentralize this case and make every client go to 100 different courthouses and slow down the process for both sides to get a just outcome, which is a trial that is decided on the merits,'' Zimmerman said in an interview.

Sig Sauer gets protection

The lawsuits accuse Sig Sauer of defective product design and marketing and negligence.

During the House debate, Roy said he owns a P320 and it's one of his favorite guns, ''but you can buy them with or without safeties.''

The plaintiffs say ''the vast majority'' of P320 models sold don't come with the safety, ''even as an option.''

Sig Sauer says some users prefer the faster draw time granted by the absence of an external safety; others want the feature for added security.

Sig Sauer offered a ''voluntary upgrade'' in 2017 to include an alternate design that reduces the weight of the trigger, among other features. The plaintiffs' lawyers say the upgrade did not stop unintentional discharges.

States, industries and immunity

''It's not a great look'' when a manufacturer can carve out a statutory exemption for itself, but it's also not unusual, said Daniel Pi, an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.

In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill in 2023 following a deadly school shooting that gives gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers additional protections against lawsuits. This year, Tennessee lawmakers passed another bill to further limit liability for gun companies.

In a different industry — pesticides — governors in North Dakota and Georgia signed laws this year providing legal protections to Bayer, the maker of Roundup, a popular weed killer. Bayer has been hit with 181,000 claims alleging that the key ingredient in Roundup causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bayer disputes those claims.

The Louisiana Legislature passed a bill that would protect nursing homes from most lawsuits and cap damages. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry hasn't acted on it yet.