Apparently they are retaining attorneys. They must not be very good attorneys, because PLCAA should pretty clearly stop any lawsuit they may be considering. All I can say is thank God we made passing this a priority in the 1990s. Imagine a lawsuit like this funded by the full weight of a sovereign government?
Sources say Mexico’s frustration with U.S. efforts to stop the flow of weapons has pushed them into this novel approach. The law firm is looking at charges that may include civil RICO. The contract was signed on November 2, 2010 by a representative of Mexico’s Attorney General, at their Washington embassy.
Any time you hear the word RICO, in regards to a civil suit, that’s usually cuckoo speak. My impression would be they’d have next to no chance to win this. I doubt it’ll even make it to trial. I’m sure, however, that Reid Collins & Tsai will be happy to take the Mexican government’s money.
Can you imagine what manufacturers could do? Relate in ATF and head to discovery STAT!
-Gene
Gene beat me to it.
According to the Mexican government database, there were 15,273 drug-related killings in 2010.Overall, a total of 34,612 people have died in drug-related killings in the four years since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared a stepped-up offensive against drug cartels.
Maybe this same novel approach could be used to sue Mexico for failing to keep their !@#$%^ drugs out of our country.
Don’t think so, Mike – unless you can find specific intent to smuggle the drugs across the border by the Mexican government, there’s no mens rea – and without intent, good luck getting a conviction. (Maybe you can pound on the table enough?)
Unfortunately, Mexico can find specific intent to permit the passing of weapons across the border, so they can sue the US government for that…
Garrett, the problem is they are suing the manufacturers and not the government. Also, their is the problem of sovereign immunity. This is a little legal precedent that says the federal government can only be sued under very specific circumstances.
Proof positive that stupidity reigns in the halls of government, both south of and north of the border.
If “…a total of 34,612 people have died in drug-related killings in the four years since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared a stepped-up offensive against drug cartels”, then I reckon they are doing it wrong.
By that logic the Southwestern states should sue the mexican government for letting so many drugs cross over there borders.
I’d like to see the Mexican and U.S. governments sue each other for each having sucky border control which allows all of the various illegal things to cross over.
Tim, if I’m not mistaken, deliberately letting weapons cross the border fits into culpable negligence by federal employees, thus opening the US gov’t to lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
And my apologies on my miswording – I meant to say “they could sue” rather than “they can sue.”
So can we sue Mexico for the drugs they allow across their borders then?
I mean while WE have passed PLCAA, I don’t think Mexico has passed any such law on their side.
I say, sue ’em!
From the linked article…
———————————-
On November 5, 2010 President Felipe Calderon expressed his frustration to CBS News correspondent Peter Greenberg: “We seized more than 90,000 weapons…I am talking like 50,000 assault weapons, AR -5 machine guns, more than 8,000 grenades and almost 10 million bullets. Amazing figures and according to all those cases, the ones we are able to track, most of these are American weapons.”
————————————
Get that? American made machineguns and fragmentation grenades are behind the carnage! How do you suppose such ordnance fell into the Cartels hands?
Was it no background-check, private-party transactions at American gun shows? Strawman sales at American gun stores? Calderon and his allies in the news media and Democratic Party would have the world believe so.
Of course the accusation is nonsensical, and such ordnance probably walked out of Mexican Army arsenals. I speculate the real aim of the lawsuit is to deflect blame from Calderon and the Mexican government for the anarchic state of the Mexican nation.
LOL unless they can prove some manufacturer is illegally exporting arms to Mexican cartels this has no chance.
Flippie Calderon is using weasel wording to try to shift the blame from his Mexican criminals in Mexico who are beheading Mexicans in Mexico and onto lawful US firearms manufacturers. He might as well blame moonbats on Mars. Flippie is ridiculous, but his idea is sure to get traction at the Batty Center.
In related news, US knife manufacturers are said to be behind the relentless beheadings and US shovel manufacturers are the cause of the numerous mass graves.
In my fantasy, the judge awards the defendants $20 trillion in legal fees emotional distress, and punitive damages. If Mexico can sue a US company in a US court, then a US court should be able to order the whole country of Mexico sold at auction.
Well, they could always bring suit in Mexico (not sure what Mexican long arm statutes say, but I presume they have jurisdiction or can create it) though they might have a tough time collecting it in the US.
But your comment on civil RICO claims is wrong. It’s actually used routinely, and successfully. From what i recall, you need to show three predicate acts – generally illegal acts.
I doubt Calderon actually cares whether the lawsuit succeeds, this is all about domestic policy & nothing sells better in Mexico (or much of the world for that matter) than blaming the Yankees.
The solution is simple: end prohibition on both sides of the border, then allow the Mexican people to own firearms. Neither will happen because both governments are more concerned with controlling citizens than in protecting them.
Why are they not suing Holder and the BATFE? Calderon’s in cahoots with the Sinaloa Cartel who get their guns from the Mexican Army.
What Sage Thrasher said. Possibly with a bit of an eye towards negotiating process for supply contracts down the road.
They must not be very good lawyers…? Well, perhaps…but then, what does THAT matter. Only the activist nature of the JUDGE really means anything. A good leftist activist will ignore the law, the illegality of the case, the criminal negligence of the attorneys and find for the plaintiff every time. Politics dictate the outcome…not the LAW!!!