HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) – Connecticut federal court will be the venue for a dispute between a gun manufacturer and a personal injury lawyer who claims one of its models fires without the trigger being pulled.
Sig Sauer, Inc., sued Jeffrey Bagnell earlier this year in New Hampshire federal court, but before the judge there decided whether to issue an injunction on Bagnell’s videos on YouTube, she transferred the case to U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Bagnell’s practice is located in Westport, Conn.
“Sig Sauer argues that the (New Hampshire) court should exercise personal jurisdiction over Bagnell based on Sig Sauer’s own contacts with New Hampshire, namely, its various operations in the state. But those contacts cannot be imputed to Bagnell,” Judge Landyra McCafferty wrote on July 12.
“Without allegations or evidence that Bagnell intentionally acted to aim the defamatory material at New Hampshire and knew or should have known that the effects of the allegedly defamatory material would be focused on New Hampshire, Sig Sauer’s operations in New Hampshire do not establish the minimum contacts necessary to confer personal jurisdiction.”
A search of federal court records shows Bagnell with nine lawsuits against Sig Sauer, and his website contains a testimonial from one of his gun clients. One of his cases is headed to trial in New Hampshire.
Sig Sauer’s lawsuit alleges videos on Bagnell’s website and on YouTube has a computer-generated animation about an alleged defect in the P320 that causes it to fire on its own. The case says the video incorrectly depicts the gun’s design and makes claims about its mechanics that are physically impossible.
In March, the company moved for a preliminary injunction requiring him to remove the video. Four months later, the motion will be transferred to a new judge in a new court.
The video is currently removed, pending a court decision, but it has seen at least 36,000 times on YouTube.