The Court of Appeals of Indiana directed the trial court to dismiss the 26-year-old Gary gun lawsuit, citing a state law passed last year.
In a Monday ruling, Chief Judge Robert Altice wrote the city of Gary “failed to show that retroactive application” of a state law barring cities from filing lawsuits against gun manufacturers “violates any vested right or constitutional guarantee held by the city.”
“Unfair as it may appear, the legislature can legally do exactly what it did in this case, and we cannot second-guess its public policy determinations in this regard. On remand, the trial court is directed to dismiss this action,” the judges wrote.
Attorney General Todd Rokita posted on Twitter/X that he was pleased the court dismissed the case “against law-abiding firearm manufacturers and sellers.”
“This result helps to ensure that firearms remain available to law-abiding citizens, preventing a single city or handful of cities from using lawsuits to force changes to the way they are sold,” Rokita said.
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.
“On behalf of the people of Gary who have yet to receive their day in court, we are disappointed in today’s decision,” Philip Bangle, senior litigation counsel with the Brady Center, which assisted the city with its lawsuit, said in a statement to the Post-Tribune. “We will coordinate with our co-counsel and the City of Gary to determine the next steps in this case. It’s long overdue that Gary residents be able to hold gun manufacturers and dealers accountable for the harms and unnecessary deaths they’ve inflicted on the City for decades.”
Gary’s lawsuit, filed during a period when gun violence was escalating, alleged the gun industry should be held as a public nuisance for supplying guns they know will reach criminals and others who can’t legally buy them.
The state has made several past attempts to kill the lawsuit. In 2024, it passed a new law with a date made retroactive to three days before Gary filed its August 1999 lawsuit.
The measure removes the rights of municipalities to sue the gun industry, allowing only the state to file lawsuits.
In February, Rokita filed a brief seeking the dismissal of the case with the appellate court on the grounds of the 2024 law.
“In effect, the city is trying to use the courts rather than the legislature to enact gun policies and regulate law-abiding citizens’ access to weapons and ammunition,” he said in a release.
In rejecting the firearms manufacturers and sellers’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit after the new law passed, Lake Superior Court Judge John Sedia called the new law unconstitutional and violated vested rights. He labeled the law as retroactive and said it singled out Gary.
The state legislature enacted the Immunity Statute, effective in 2001, that states that “a person may not bring” a lawsuit against a firearms manufacturer or seller for recovery of damages in the lawful design, manufacture, marketing or sale of firearms.
In 2015, the general assembly amended the immunity statute to state a person could not “bring or maintain” a lawsuit retroactive to August 26, 1999.
Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, said the trial court “got it right” because it saw that Gary “had a vested interest in this case.”
“This has nothing to do with individual gun rights or the 2nd Amendment. This case has always been about the city defending itself against major players in the gun industry that saw profits soar while Gary suffered,” Pol said.
Throughout the case, lawyers representing Gary presented “valid, meritorious” claims, Pol said. But, with the 2024 law, the state was able to “circumvent the clear separation of powers” to stop Gary’s lawsuit, he said.
“This precedent allows powerful corporations to use their influence in the legislature to avoid liability to the people for their wrongful acts. Even if they are dead to rights wrong and owe millions to you or your community, if you sue a corporation that can get a bill across a statehouse, they’ll walk free,” Pol said.
Ultimately, Pol said he hopes the case makes it to the Supreme Court “and that justice will be restored to the city.”
akukulka@post-trib.com
