In Gustafson v. Springfield, while he with a gun, one juvenile shot and killed his young friend. The deceased boy’s parents sued the gun manufacturer and alleged that, under the common law of Pennsylvania, the gun-industry defendants were negligent and strictly liable for manufacturing and/or selling a defectively-designed handgun that caused their son’s death. The PA Superior Court interpreted the phrase “qualified civil liability action” in the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 (“PLCAA”), which is a federal statute. The Court held that the phrase refers to a civil action as a whole, not to specific causes of action within complaints. Therefore, the trial court erred when it applied the PLCAA on a claim-by-claim basis rather than to the entire lawsuit.
