Can wounded officers file suit against gun shops that sell guns to criminals?
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Just months after two wounded Milwaukee police officers won a landmark liability case against a local gun dealer, a second trial against the same store is set to begin. This one involves two different
injured officers.
Starting May 16, Badger Guns and its predecessor, Badger Outdoors, and their sales practices will again be under scrutiny in the fourth-floor courtroom of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge John DiMotto.
The new case, brought by Officer Jose Lopez and former officer Alejandro Arce, alleges that owners of Badger Guns negligently sold the gun used to wound them in 2007.
The trial is scheduled to last up to three weeks.
In October, a jury ruled in favor of Officer Bryan Norberg and former officer Graham Kunisch, awarding them nearly $6 million in health care costs and lost wages, pain and suffering and punitive damages.
In a first-of-its-kind verdict that was watched nationwide, the jury found that Badger Guns and its owner broke federal laws and negligently sold the gun used to injure the officers to a straw buyer — a man buying the weapon for someone who could not legally purchase it.
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