Calling it a “resounding and unequivocal victory for the industry and a clear defeat for the plaintiffs,” Larry Keane, vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Association (NSSF) applauded a Florida appeals court ruling that rejected the Miami-Dade lawsuit against the firearms industry.

The Third District Court of Appeals ruling amounts to a serious setback in the Miami-Dade County effort to hold the firearms industry financially responsible for criminal violence. In its ruling, the court held that the lawsuit was “an improper attempt to regulate firearms through the courts.”

The court said, “The power to legislate belongs not to the judicial branch of government, but to the legislative branch.”

“The Miami case is important,” Keane told Gun Week, “because it reaffirmed the important concept and principle of separation of powers. This was basically an attempt to regulate the firearms industry through litigation.”

He noted that this is a recurring theme in decisions handed down by various courts that have been rejecting municipal lawsuits against gun companies.

Keane is hopeful that it will also be the attitude in Georgia when the Atlanta lawsuit is finally decided. In that case, the Georgia Supreme Court recently ruled that the case may go forward. On Feb. 16, the court issued a “limited decision,” allowing that case to proceed against 14 firearms manufacturers and trade groups. Twenty-six companies had been named in the Miami-Dade suit which was dismissed.

While not ruling on the actual merits of the case, the Georgia court rejected a writ of mandamus filed by industry lawyers seeking to overturn a lower court’s refusal to dismiss the case. Industry attorneys had unsuccessfully argued that the lower court erred and abused its discretion when it ignored a state law prohibiting such lawsuits.

On the bright side, Keane noted that two Georgia Supreme Court justices acknowledged their belief that the state law prohibiting municipal lawsuits against industry does preclude such lawsuits. He expressed confidence that once the initial case does make its way up the legal ladder, it will be rejected on that ground.

“I don’t think the city of Atlanta and their lawyers should take any solace in this decision,” Keane stated.

In other industry lawsuit developments, Keane said Gary, IN, has filed an amended complaint in its lawsuit, dropping one retailer who settled with the city, and adding a couple of others. Industry lawyers countered that by filing another motion to dismiss.

In Ohio, the state’s Supreme Court voted 4-3 to hear the appeal in the Cincinnati case, which should see opening briefs filed by mid-March, and full briefs by early summer, Keane estimated.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has requested additional briefing in the New Orleans lawsuit. But perhaps the most telling development did not even occur in a courtroom, Keane reported. The American Bar Association recently offered a legal seminar on gun and media violence litigation in California. Two years ago, when a similar program was presented, Keane said “hundreds of people” attended. This time around, attendance was less than 100.