Kramer Levin Files Amicus Brief in the US Supreme Court on Behalf of March For Our Lives Action Fund in Support of Gun Victims’ Right to Redress

On Jan. 17, 2025, Kramer Levin filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the March For Our Lives Action Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating the epidemic of gun violence. The brief, filed in Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et al. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, supports the affirmance of a First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) does not bar Mexico’s lawsuit against seven gun manufacturers and one distributor for damages arising from the sale of firearms to drug cartels in Mexico.

PLCAA prohibits civil actions against licensed firearms manufacturers and sellers for harms caused solely by the criminal misuse of otherwise properly functioning firearms and ammunition by third parties. PLCAA contains several exceptions, however, including the predicate exception, which allows lawsuits against manufacturers or sellers that knowingly violate a statute applicable to the sale or marketing of their products when that violation proximately causes the harm for which a plaintiff seeks relief. The First Circuit held that Mexico’s complaint states a claim under this exception based on allegations that the defendant firearms manufacturers and distributor knowingly aided and abetted unlawful firearms sales to traffickers for Mexican drug cartels, which proximately caused harm to Mexico.

Kramer Levin’s brief provides firsthand accounts of survivors of gun violence who rely on the predicate exception or on traditional notions of aiding and abetting unlawful conduct and proximate cause to seek redress for their injuries. For example, it tells the story of Janet Delana, who sued the gun shop that sold her daughter Colby a gun even after Janet begged the shop not to sell Colby a firearm because she was experiencing a mental health crisis. The store sold Colby a gun anyway. Minutes later, Colby used the gun to shoot and kill her father, Janet’s husband, Tex. The brief also tells the story of Sabika Sheikh, a 17-year-old exchange student from Pakistan, who was murdered in a Texas school mass shooting. Her family sued the online dealer that sold ammunition to the shooter without verifying his age as required by law. The shooter was below the age required to buy the ammunition.

The brief argues that the gun manufacturers’ interpretation of PLCAA and proximate cause would close the courthouse doors to victims such as these, who were foreseeably harmed by the unlawful conduct of firearms manufacturers and sellers. It urges the Supreme Court to reject the manufacturers’ arguments.

Read the brief here.