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D.C. Court of Appeals Grants Rehearing En Banc of Washington, D.C. Lawsuit

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR), the nation's largest firearms manufacturer, announced that on October 19, 2004, the D.C. Court of Appeals vacated the court's judgment of April 29, 2004, which had dismissed the city's claim against firearms manufacturers but let stand certain individuals' claims against manufacturers of firearms allegedly used in criminal assaults against plaintiffs under the Washington, D.C. "Strict Liability Act", subject to proof of causation. It scheduled a rehearing of the entire matter en banc by the full Court of Appeals, to be heard early in 2005.

The trial court originally dismissed the case in 2002, with the trial judge holding that the plaintiffs failed to state a cause of action at common law and that the D.C. "Strict Liability" law was unconstitutional. On April 29 of this year, the D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the city's case, but found the "Strict Liability" law to be constitutional as to individual plaintiffs. Both sides had filed petitions for rehearing of issues they believed had been decided erroneously, or in the alternative, for a hearing en banc. The court chose to grant the latter, and further ordered full briefing and oral argument on all issues at the rehearing next year.