Sig Sauer Ordered to Pay $11M to Man Shot by His Own Pistol

A Philadelphia jury awarded $11 million on Wednesday to a man whose holstered Sig Sauer pistol went off by itself while he was going down the stairs, causing a serious leg injury—the second major verdict this year against the embattled gun manufacturer over its P320 model, the AP reports. After a three-week trial, the jury concluded that New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer was negligent for selling a defective gun and holster. The plaintiff's lawyers said the P320 pistol is prone to going off without the trigger being pulled, a defect that has led to scores of injuries around the US. More than 100 people have come forward to make similar allegations about the P320. Sig Sauer insists the gun is safe.

"We've been asking Sig for over three years now to recall this gun, to fix it, and frankly to use the same type of safeties that other manufacturers are using that Sig Sauer is not," Robert W. Zimmerman, the plaintiff's lawyer, said after the verdict. He added that the verdict "sends a strong message to Sig Sauer that they need to do something with this gun." Zimmerman represented George Abrahams, a US Army veteran and painting contractor in Philadelphia, who has said he holstered his P320, put it in the pocket of his athletic pants, and zipped it up before going downstairs. The gun went off and the bullet tore through his right thigh, exiting above the knee, causing permanent injuries, according to court documents.

Earlier this year, a federal jury awarded $2.35 million to a Georgia man who was wounded when his holstered P320 went off. Zimmerman's law firm, Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, also represented that plaintiff, and has a raft of other pending claims against Sig Sauer. The company has indicated it plans to appeal the Georgia verdict. Abrahams' lawsuit, which was filed in 2022, recounted dozens of unintended discharge incidents involving the P320, of which lawyers have estimated there are about a half-million in circulation in the US. The military version of the pistol comes with an external safety to prevent unintended discharges, according to plaintiffs' lawyers, but the model sold to police departments and civilians does not.

(More lawsuit stories.)