Any comment on the lawsuit against S&W's .380 Bodyguard???

[Hokkmike]

This is my main pocket/carry gun. I own the model in question. Have any POOFA fellow BG owners heard of this? Does it affect your trust in the weapon? Comments appreciated.





Defective gun blew up in face of St. Charles County man, lawsuit claims


ST. LOUIS • A St. Charles County man sued Smith & Wesson and Remington Thursday in federal court here, claiming that faulty ammunition caused his flawed, lightweight handgun to blow up in his face last year.

Jeffrey Pfitzer's suit claims that he was firing the Smith & Wesson .380 Bodyguard at a shooting range in the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area in St. Charles County on Dec. 16.

The gun was manufactured from composite materials and was designed to be small, lightweight and easily concealed, the suit says, but was not robust enough to withstand a failure in the wall of the cartridge casing.

Pfitzer bought the gun for his wife, the suit says, and wanted to fire the first few shots before she used it. The incident occurred the first time the gun was fired, the suit claims.

The explosion blew fragments of the gun into his face, the suit says, causing a concussion and permanent scars.

The suit is seeking at least $75,000 from each company.

Paul J. Passanante, who represents Pfitzer, said in an email that a plastic surgeon had to remove pieces of the handgun from Pfitzer's face, and “He still has at least one piece embedded in his cheek.”

Passanante, a gun owner himself, said that gun manufacturers “have allowed marketing considerations to trump safety and dependability.”

The companies, he said, “are concealing from consumers the fact that the guns they are marketing for conceal and carry are not safe and dependable, posing risks to the (owners). . . rather than their intended targets.”

A Smith & Wesson representative said that the company could not comment on pending litigation. Remington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Internet news source.... (not my own commentary)

[daschnoz]

The incident occurred the first time the gun was fired, the suit claims.

I think this will be over quickly.

Q: Mr. Pfitzer, did you clean your new pistol before you fired it?
A: No.

Case dismissed.

[jakebrake]

I think this will be over quickly.

Q: Mr. Pfitzer, did you clean your new pistol before you fired it?
A: No.

Case dismissed.

I'd be inclined to argue that. if for no other reason, than....St. Louis, + the odds that a juror would know that.

[Hodgie]

The guy is suing both S&W and Remington who I guess made the rounds he purchased. At that point he might as well add himself fo the suit because he obviously cannot prove if it was the gun, the ammo. Or himself.

OP this sounds more like a case of the non experienced playing with a firearm more then a possible issue with the pistol. There's a lot of BG pistols out there and I've never seen another report of catastrophic failure.

[Twoboxer]

3 things involved . . he pulled the trigger on a new gun as it was intended, pistol could have failed, bullet could have failed.

Seems to me 2 out of 3 is preponderence of evidence he should win the lawsuit. Who pays, how it's shared, dunno.

Guess we'll see.

[ForeverPA]

I think this will be over quickly.

Q: Mr. Pfitzer, did you clean your new pistol before you fired it?
A: No.

Case dismissed.

What sort of "cleaning" are you talking about? So if I fire my weapon and not immediately dismantle it for a full cleaning I should expect it to blow up in my face?

[Hodgie]

What sort of "cleaning" are you talking about? So if I fire my weapon and not immediately dismantle it for a full cleaning I should expect it to blow up in my face?

Many new weapons are shipped in packing grease on the outside and in the internals. Is it reccomend to clean once purchased well that's really up to what the manufacture states in the manual for that specific arm.

[Noah_Zark]

It is my policy to not comment on pending litigation.

Noah

[Jhaydeno]

Did he even sight down the barrel? Maybe the test round at S & W was a dud and still lodged in the barrel, maybe there were machine chunks caught in the grease, maybe the cartridge was only halfway in, or maybe he was using .32 in place of .38 (look online for guys shooting 9mm in .40 Sigs, it happens)!

I'm not sure why anyone would purchase a gun and not disassemble it once to check things over. People that don't are the same ones sitting on the side of the road looking in the tall grass for their fourth wheel after a tire rotation or new tires were installed...

[dannyb]

IANAL, but my bet is that there will be a settlement and that we'll never really find out what happened. 75K from each? It would cost more than that to go to trial and through all the other associated costs. I think that the plaintiff will end up with 100K from the pair of defendants along with an agreement for no public disclosure.