Mexico Wants to Sue US Gun Makers

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Bubbles

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Project Gunwalker / Fast & Furious, and now this... I swear I'm living in the twilight zone. They should be suing the DoJ.

Mexico wants to sue U.S. gun makers
the Mexican Government has retained an American law firm to explore filing civil charges against U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors over the flood of guns crossing the border into Mexico.

Sources say Mexico's frustration with U.S. efforts to stop the flow of weapons has pushed them into this novel approach. The law firm is looking at charges that may include civil RICO. The contract was signed on November 2, 2010 by a representative of Mexico's Attorney General, at their Washington embassy.
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Does a foreign government suing an American company carry any actual legal weight if they don't do any business in Mexico?
 
the Mexican Government has retained an American law firm to explore filing civil charges against U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors over the flood of guns crossing the border into Mexico.
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They will lose. there are laws on the books specifically protecting gun manufacturers from civil liability rising from unlawful use of their products.
 
We should tell them to stick "you know where!" What are they going to do, attack us if we don't pay? We need to cut all ties with that country after we put up a "great wall of Mexico." What do they do for us besides allow the derelicts of their society to spill into our country? One of the most corrupt governments, of a third-world nation, is going to sue the United States?! I don't even know why we would give them the time of day...what is wrong with us?:banghead:
 
We seem to be assuming American law. Is the Mexican government prevented from suing in Mexico? Other than actually collecting on a judgment, obviously...
 
Yeah, i'm sure that all those full-auto weapons, grenades and RPG's they find whenever they make a drug bust came from the San Antonio Walmart.

The media needs to point the finger where it belongs, at Mexican Army Desserters and International Arms Smugglers.

If Diamond smugglers have the cash to buy black-market machine guns over the phone, then surely the likes of Al Capone and Pablo Escobar can make similar financial arrangements.

Hell, i remember reading an article regarding a weapons amnesty in a South-American PRISON, where an incarcerated inmate turned in a cutom-built full-auto machine pistol.

Seeing that both the Drugs and the Guns are both illegal in the country threatening the lawsuit, it certainly speaks highly of the "effectiveness" of prohibitions.
 
We seem to be assuming American law. Is the Mexican government prevented from suing in Mexico? Other than actually collecting on a judgment, obviously...
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The law firm that was retained is based in NY, and they specifically mentioned suing under RICO, which is an American law. So, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that they're looking at filing in federal court in the US.
 
One can always sue. IMO, the main goal isn't to win the case, but to get as much publicity on someone else versus their own corruption.

Parts of Mexico literally has no rule of law. And that's sad. :(
 
[MOD Talk: If you want to discuss immigration issues, go somewhere else. If we can keep this focused on the legal issues around RICO and PLCAA as relates to a foreign government filing suit against a US company, we can keep this open.]
 
Is Mexico also going to sue shoe companies because most of the cartels wear shoes? How about the machette companies for all of the beheadings? Maybe someone in the Brady campaign or the like is egging them on, I am not a consperity theorist but where is the money coming from? It may be a publisity stunt by the Mexgov since the illegal arms trade has been in the news lately.
 
News media desperation factor...11

Don't give them a second of your confidence. They are just Vultures looking for more stories to exploit, especially anti-gun.

End these useless threads.
 
[MOD Talk: If you want to discuss immigration issues, go somewhere else. If we can keep this focused on the legal issues around RICO and PLCAA as relates to a foreign government filing suit against a US company, we can keep this open.]

(Does this become more clear when italicized and underlined?)
 
End these useless threads.
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Actually, this is an interesting development. I'd really like to hear from some of our resident legal professionals as to how a company operating legally within the US, and who has not been found to be selling their products in ways that do not violate any US laws (and, one presumes, which does not conduct business in another country in violation of that country's laws, either) could be sued under RICO.

RICO appears (to this layman) to require a criminal act at its foundation, that criminal act being the focus of a coordinated, organized effort by some organization working together to break the law.

If gun manufacturers haven't been found to have violated any laws themselves, then the charge would seem to evaporate.

(Now, I could see some validity in the Mexican government suing the ATF under RICO for the Gunwalker scandal ...but that would probably end badly.)
 
Then the U.S. should sue Mexican drug makers.
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That would only make a sense if the products of legitimate Mexican pharmaceutical companies (like Laboratorios Syntex SA, perhaps) were flooding the US with illegal drugs.

I'm sure the DEA, etc., would LOVE to get the illegal drug cartels in federal court here in the US. But then the RICO charge would make sense because there is a deliberate criminal enterprise focused on producing and distributing an illegal product. But there's no effective ability to arrest and convict those persons at the moment, so it's a moot point. File suit all you want, they aren't going to show up for trial.

Now Smith & Wesson, Springfield Armory, Colt, Bushmaster, etc and whomever, WILL show up in court if summoned to trial because they are legitimate, lawful companies.

So, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison. Mexico isn't trying to sue our illegal organized crime families, they're trying to sue our legitimate businesses for conspiracy to commit crimes that no one's been accused or convicted of actually committing. How can a company that follows all laws explicitly be convicted of conspiring to break the law?

Until and unless US gunmakers can be found to break our laws, I don't see the RICO charge.
 
What is happening? Last year, we had the Mexican president lecturing our Congress, also over these mythological guns pouring into Mexico, now we have them threatening to sue?
Does a foreign government suing an American company carry any actual legal weight if they don't do any business in Mexico?
Click to expand...

I would tend to think NO, but with the current administration, a lot of things have happened I never thought possible.
 
BREAKING: NSSF, Gun owners react to threatened Mexico industry lawsuit

American gun rights activists, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation have “taken off the gloves” following yesterday’s disclosure by CBS News and confirmed by the Associated Press that Mexico has retained a high-profile United States legal firm to possibly sue U.S. gun makers for the violence in that country, as shown by two popular gun rights forums, The High Road and Gun Rights Media…

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-...s-react-to-threatened-mexico-industry-lawsuit
 
You can bring suit about anything you want. The point is harassment as it costs tremendous amounts of money to defend a suit. If the suit is considered by the courts to be totally frivilous it is possible for the sued party to recover their legal costs but that would be another lawsuit. Then getting a judgement is one thing but collecting is another matter. The idea is to make it so much of a hassle to make or sell guns it will drive the gunmakers/distributors out of business. That won't happen but it will drive up the price and line the pockets of the attorneys.
 
So Mexico thinks they can sue US Gun Manufacturers because the US Citizens or greencard holders or illegal aliens working with the Mexican cartel is smuggling guns in from the US?

Amazing. Maybe they think the guns have legs and brains and they run away from our homes and cross the border into mexican cartel hands so they can enjoy life being shot more often and killing people.
 
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