defective shotgun

[dimond58]

in october of 2000 my then 9 year old son and i were hunting my son was unloading his mossberg 410 pump shot gun, he ejected one shell and was in the process of ejecting the second shell when the bolt was about three-fourths open "somthing" caused a shell to discharge whitch inturn caused three more to discharge. he suffered burns and metal fragments in his arm which requried med. service. after a long search in North Carolina ,where we live, i found a attorney in Louisiana to talk with me on this matter,no one in n.c. would not,could not or did not have the experiance to deal with the gun mfg.. the attorney has showen the gun to a rep. of mossberg and their comment was "it's not our gun it was the ammunitiom mfg." the ammo mfg. has reveiwed phots of the gun and shell casings and their comment is "it couldn't be the shells". the attorney in La. has been very helpful but has said from the start he couldn't make any money on this. he has left me with unanswered questions; what time frame do i have for filing a suite? since i am only out a total of $1300.00 in med,gun,shiping and ect. should i file in small claimes? can i file against both parties since their is a unclear cause? my intitions were and still are is to make some one admit they have a problem and fix it befor some one is not as luckie as my son was.

 

[Kelly143]

Sorry, but I have to wonder why a gun was in the hands of a 9 year old to begin with...

 

[dimond58]

Kelly143
If you would have read my post you would have seen that we were HUNTING yes that is what my son's and i do. No he was not alone we were with in the guidelines of the n.c. wildelife commision my 9 year old was within arms reach of me. but i understand your thinking i think but it dosent answer my questions
thanks

 

[ArtCorbit]

shotgun

Your small claims limit in Nort Carolina is $4,000. I would take the gun and all my reciepts and take the gun maker to court. What the hey, it will cost you about $50 and and they would be wise to just pay you and be done with it. Train your son well and help him to enjoy the sport of hunting. If the state says he can hunt at nine years old then so be it. I'm not a lawyer but just telling you what I would do. However I am a gunsmith and know guns well. I have had this happen to me many times and it has always been the fault of the gun. To get the chain reaction in the tube the shell in the loading mech. had to strike something it wasn't supposed to. If the gun had been built right it wouldn't have happened. If the shell was not in the chamber then your son could not have caused it by pulling the trigger.

 

[dimond58]

Thanks art for the info. I would like to talk to you more indepth