Firearms Litigation: Liability, Regulation, and the Constitution
Firearms litigation poses some of the most novel questions being litigated in our courts, spanning constitutional, statutory, and policy questions. This conference will help the legal community think through some of these questions and push courts and policymakers to create a framework to resolve them responsibly.
This event is co-sponsored by the Center on Civil Justice at NYU School of Law, the Duke Center for Firearms Law, and the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School.
Panel 1: Liability Litigation: Products, Preemption, and the PLCAA
Suits for damages by private parties against gun manufacturers and others raise a number of important legal questions. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which bars suits against gun manufacturer absent a “predicate exception,” will be centered, and its interpretation raises numerous interesting issues, from intent of the drafters to federalism more broadly. Conflict between the Second Circuit in Beretta and the Connecticut Supreme Court in Soto, which differ on the breadth of the PLCAA's “predicate exception” and the extent to which a statute a gun manufacturer is accused of violating must directly regulate firearms, will lay a framework for discussion.
Moderator: Abbe Gluck (Yale)
Panelists (in formation): Mark Lanier (Lanier Law Firm)
Panel 2: Constitutional Litigation
Challenges to federal, state, and local laws and regulations raise Second Amendment issues and Federalism-related policy questions. We will exam the legal and Constitutional issues presented in litigation over gun rights in the face of regulation and legislation.
Panelists (in formation): Joseph Blocher (Duke)
Panel 3: The Future of Litigation Strategies
The ultimate question of the conference is how litigation -- both affirmative and defensive -- should look. We will look at strategies invoked by practicing counsel, as well as procedural rules the courts should apply, and statutory policy recommendations that would govern the scope and shape of litigation.
Moderator: Darrell Miller (Duke)
Panelists (in formation): Troy McKenzie (NYU), Evan Chesler (Cravath)
We will be applying for 4 CLE credit hours for this event.