Of Arms and the Law

Navigation
About Me
Contact Me
Archives
XML Feed
Home


Law Review Articles
Firearm Owner's Protection Act
Armed Citizens, Citizen Armies
2nd Amendment & Historiography
The Lecture Notes of St. George Tucker
Original Popular Understanding of the 14th Amendment
Originalism and its Tools


2nd Amendment Discussions

1982 Senate Judiciary Comm. Report
2004 Dept of Justice Report
US v. Emerson (5th Cir. 2001)

Click here to join the NRA (or renew your membership) online! Special discount: annual membership $25 (reg. $35) for a great magazine and benefits.

Recommended Websites
Ammo.com, deals on ammunition
Scopesfield: rifle scope guide
Ohioans for Concealed Carry
Clean Up ATF (heartburn for headquarters)
Concealed Carry Today
Knives Infinity, blades of all types
Buckeye Firearms Association
NFA Owners' Association
Leatherman Multi-tools And Knives
The Nuge Board
Dave Kopel
Steve Halbrook
Gunblog community
Dave Hardy
Bardwell's NFA Page
2nd Amendment Documentary
Clayton Cramer
Constitutional Classics
Law Reviews
NRA news online
Sporting Outdoors blog
Blogroll
Instapundit
Upland Feathers
Instapunk
Volokh Conspiracy
Alphecca
Gun Rights
Gun Trust Lawyer NFA blog
The Big Bore Chronicles
Good for the Country
Knife Rights.org
Geeks with Guns
Hugh Hewitt
How Appealing
Moorewatch
Moorelies
The Price of Liberty
Search
Email Subscription
Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 

Credits
Powered by Movable Type 6.8.7
Site Design by Sekimori

« Lee settles suit against govt, media | Main | New blogs »

AZ ruling on statutory immunity to suit

Posted by David Hardy · 3 June 2006 11:52 AM

The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled in Sonoran Investigations v. Hernandez.

Decedent Hernandez was caught shoplifting by security guards, who used a choke hold on him, which allegedly killed him. His estated sued for wrongful death/overuse of force. Defendants plead a statute which absolves a person of liability for negligent or grossly negligent harm to a person who was committing a property misdemeanor.

The Court of Appeals found the statute unconstitutional under a provision of the state constitution that states: “The defense of contributory negligence or of assumption of risk shall, in all cases whatsoever, be a question of fact and shall, at all times, be left to the jury.” It cites an early state supreme court ruling striking down a statute that immunized tavern owners against liability for harm caused to patrons by reason of their intoxication, the Supreme Court concluding that that immunity was a roundabout way of creating a contributor negligence defense.

The Arizona provision (together with another that forbids the legislature to restrict recovery for physical injury or death) reflected the distrust of the state framers for tort doctrine of the time. Employers had frequently won dismissals of suits alleging dangerous workplace conditions, by arguing that as a matter of law the employee was negligent or "had assumed the risk" by taking a dangerous job! The simplest way to deal with it was to ensure that only juries (largely made up of working class people) could rule on those issues.
The result has been a series of court rulings on just what the jury instructions should say. They clearly can't say "if you find contributory negligence, you MUST rule for defendant." So there have been strings of cases on whether you can say "should" or just "may" or variations of the above.

· Self defense

Leave a comment