Who just filed a lawsuit for $10 billion? Hello, this is Reinhard von Hennigs. And the answer is the Mexican government did. But now the second question is against whom? The United States gun manufacturing industry. This lawsuit was filed a couple of days ago in Massachusetts. And the question remains why?
Officials from Mexico claim that Mexico is in need and entitled to compensation for $10 billion because guns from the United States were used for illegal activities. And the American gun manufacturer knew that guns were smuggled over the border to be used for illegal activities. Mexico states as well that the gun manufacturing industry forgot, or did not include mechanisms of security or traceability of the guns.
So in other words, the proper way of sale of such guns cannot be really traced. As a result, many guns are just smuggled over the border used for assaults, and more in Mexico. And now we're talking about a $10 billion suit. Whether this case will end up at Supreme court or this case will be settled in the meantime, or just outright dismissed on so many legal grounds we will not know.
But my quick takeaway today is that if there is state-of-the-art technology and you as a company is not using it, you may be liable for not using it. So if there is a better traceability method for guns available and this traceability would prevent illegal sales, then I could see an argument for why the gun industry is liable.
So for your own businesses, if there is a method where you can make a product safer, state of the art safer, that is, and you fail to do so, this by itself may create liability for you. So the quick advice is not only to stay tuned to my morning musings but stay up to date with the state of the art.