http://www.universalhub.com/2012/court-if-you-steal-somebodys-gun-then-accidentally
"The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today a gun owner was not liable for the death of a man who stole one of his guns then died when the gun went off as he was putting it back at his sister's insistence.
After Charles Milot died in 2002, his ex-wife, acing as executor of his estate, sued both the gun owner - a family friend who gave Milot a job after he got out of a county jail - and the gun manufacturer, alleging negligence. According to the decision, Milot found the key the man used to lock up his guns, stole two of them and then showed them to his sister. She convinced him to put them back, but in the act of putting one of them back, it went off, severing his left femoral artery, which caused him to quickly bleed to death.
In its ruling, the court said the estate's not entitled to a cent from the gunowner because Milot died while in the commission of a crime: illegal possession of a gun in general and by a convicted felon in particular.
"We conclude that public policy dictates that Milot's criminal conduct acts as a bar to recovery," the court said, citing similar rulings in both Massachusetts and elsewhere, such as one against a burglar who sued a homeowner for negligence because he broke his leg in a fall caused by a missing step down to the cellar and a Milton Academy student who tried to sue his school for failing to keep him from committing statutory rape.
The court added that the gun maker, Glock, was protected as well, both by a federal law that restricts manufacturer liability for what people do with their guns and, again, because Milot was using the gun in an illegal act."
Maybe they can sue their own lawyer for malpractice?
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