20 Gunshot Victims, Wounded by Their Defective Sig Sauer P320 Pistols, File an Unprecedented Lawsuit Against the Gunmaker

The victims – mostly federal agents, military veterans, and police officers – suffered injuries that will limit their ability to protect and serve

Concord, New Hampshire (December 1 2022) – Highly-trained local, state and federal law enforcement officers, as well as experienced military veterans, are among 20 victims wounded by their “dangerously defective” Sig Sauer P320 pistols who just filed an unprecedented lawsuit against the maker of the controversial firearm as a result of their guns firing uncommanded, according to Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky P.C.,  attorneys for the victims. The filing (Armendariz et. al. v. Sig Sauer, Inc. USDC, New Hampshire No.1:22-cv-00536) is the latest, and by far largest P320 lawsuit against Sig Sauer on behalf of injured victims;  filed late yesterday, it details each unintended, un-commanded firing and wounding of the users, and the life-altering consequences. The documented incidents occurred across more than one dozen states. 

Attorney Robert W. Zimmerman of SMB said following the filing, “These men and women were highly trained officers, veterans, and responsible and safety-conscious gun users who put their trust in Sig Sauer, unaware that the gun they used to serve was a danger to themselves and anyone around them. We intend to prove that the Sig Sauer P320 is without question the most dangerous pistol on the market in the United States.” He added, “The P320 literally puts those who carry the gun in the line of fire, and we’ve seen time and again the devastating results of the gun’s safety defects and corporate deception.”

Attorney Robert J. Mongeluzzi of SMB said, “The Plaintiffs were misled by Sig Sauer, literally falling victim to the dangerously designed and manufactured P320 they believed could not fire on its own. To a person, they also believe in our justice system and that the only way to stop Sig Sauer from continuing to sell this dangerous weapon is through the courts.” “It is cruelly ironic that this dangerous weapon was marketed to the protectors of our freedom, and fails in its essential purpose – to protect those who protect us,” said Mongeluzzi. 

The Plaintiffs’ legal team also includes SMB’s Daniel L. Ceisler.  “Too many military veterans put their faith in Sig Sauer because the Army did,” said Mr. Ceisler, a former U.S. Army Captain who served with Special Operations in Afghanistan. “The problem is that Sig Sauer equipped the Army version of the P320 with a key safety feature – a manual safety guarding against unintentional firing – that they left off the non-military models without any other external safety to prevent these misfires.” Ceisler added: “To make a gun with a trigger this short and this light without any sort of external safety is reckless and unprecedented.” 

SMB filed the action, pending its local admission, along with local New Hampshire counsel Benjamin King of Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. It is alleged that in each and every incident the P320, Sig Sauer’s first commercial striker-fired pistol, “was capable of firing unintentionally due to defective components and/or the lack of necessary safety features.” 

The filing is the latest legal development casting a cloud over the New Hampshire-based company’s gun that has been heavily marketed as immune from unintended firing. The lawsuit alleges deceptive marketing practices in addition to the defect claims for Sig’s broken promises to its users. 

Earlier this month, the Milwaukee Police Department was the latest department to announce it was discontinuing the use of the P320 as its service-issue sidearm, following the lead of other public entities. This followed at least three unintentional discharges in the Milwaukee Police Department since 2020 involving the P320.

MPD Officers Adam Maritato and Robert Parks, are among the Plaintiffs in today’s filing. Like the other Plaintiffs, they have extensive firearms training. Their incident, on July 14, 2020,  is similar in many respects to the other Plaintiffs:

• On duty, their P320’s were holstered when Parks’ P320 discharged from within its holster while both of Parks’ hands were on a suspect being apprehended. No one’s hands were near the gun. 
• The bullet struck his partner Maritato in his right leg, causing substantial injury, maceration of tissue, blood loss, and nerve damage, along with severe emotional trauma. Maritato cannot run, sit or stand as he had before the incident, and will never be able to return to his pre-incident form. Parks suffered serious, disabling, and permanent emotional distress as a result of the discharge of his gun injuring his trusted partner without any hands near the holstered gun.

The previous negligence and products liability complaints against Sig Sauer were filed by SMB and other law firms in state and federal courts, including attorneys Jeff Bagnell, of Westport, CT, and Nick Gurney, of Orlando, FL, who have been part of the team uncovering Sig Sauer’s dangerous conduct. Those  individual lawsuits have also been brought by wounded active duty law enforcement personnel, including separate suits involving a military veteran in Philadelphia and a federal agent from suburban Philadelphia, and other trained and experienced gun users against the gunmaker that has consistently refused to issue a safety recall. 

SMB now represents more than 50 victims injured by Sig Sauer’s P320 pistol that features a spring-loaded striker firing mechanism. SMB expects to file additional suits in the coming days on behalf of more injured victims. They are uncovering more and more instances of unintended discharges, and continue to demand that Sig Sauer remove this dangerous product from the market and recall those in the hands of law enforcement, federal agents, and civilians until the necessary safety devices, which have been used within the industry for years, are included.

Besides a copy of the newly-filed lawsuit, additional related information on the Sig Sauer litigation – and the gun’s troubled history – can be found at www.smbb.com/SigSauer. 

Contacts:

Robert J. Mongeluzzi / rmongeluzzi@smbb.com

Larry Bendesky / lbendesky@smbb.com

Robert W. Zimmerman / rzimmerman@smbb.com

Steph Rosenfeld / steph@idadvisors.com