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In a case that almost made it through the cracks TopClassActions reports that Taurus agreed in May of this year to settle a class-action lawsuit brought over nine handgun models, including six of the PT Millennium models. In response to common practice, Taurus legally does not admit to wrong-doing, but has agreed to pay $30 million to the Class members and agreed to “enhanced lifetime wwarranty and training for the firearms.”
According to Grand View Outdoors:
“The settlement agreement covers nine Taurus models, including the PT-111 Millennium; PT-132 Millennium; PT-138 Millennium; PT-140 Millennium; PT-145 Millennium; PT-745 Millennium; PT-609; PT-640 and PT-24/7″
The suit was brought on by plaintiff Chris Carter, a deputy sherriff in Iowa. As part of the settlement, Taurus will further pay $9 million in attorney’s fees.
Carter alleged in his class action lawsuit that the Taurus pistols in question “contain a drop-fire defect that may cause the pistols to fire when dropped from a normal height, and a false safety defect which allows the pistols to unintentionally fire even when the manual safety lever in in the ‘on’ or ‘safe’ position and the trigger moves rearward.”
Carter is a deputy for the Scott County, Iowa, sheriff’s department. He filed the class action lawsuit after his own Taurus gun fired while he was working one day as a narcotics agent and he dropped his gun on the ground in the middle of a pursuit. When the gun fell, it fired even though the safety was on. However, no one was shot, only a car was hit.
According to the class action lawsuit, Taurus was aware of the defects in their guns since 2007. In addition, the class action lawsuit also cited lawsuits that Taurus settled over injuries that allegedly occurred from unintended discharges. Also, the Sao Paulo State Military Police in Brazil reportedly recalled 98,000 Taurus firearms in 2013 because the alleged trigger problems.
The Taurus class action lawsuit charged the Brazilian gun maker with suppression, failure to warn, violating the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and state consumer protection laws.
