Widow Wins $275,000 Verdict After Imported Shotgun Bursts During Oklahoma Skeet Shoot

A 12 gauge double-barrel shotgun burst during a skeet shoot in Oklahoma and killed its owner, Robert Messler. His widow, Florence Messler, sued the companies that imported the gun and won a $275,000 jury verdict in a wrongful death products liability case. With pre-judgment interest added, the Oklahoma County District Court entered judgment for $430,822.04.

The gun was an AYS Matador, made in Spain and imported for resale by Firearms International Corporation and F.I. Industries. Neither the Spanish maker nor the seller was a party to the suit. Nobody could say how old the gun was or who had owned it, though it was believed to be at least ten years old. At some point after it was bought, Simmons Gun Specialties had soldered a floating rib onto the top of the gun, presumably to help with sighting.

While Richard Simpson and a group of friends were shooting skeet, the right barrel exploded. A fragment of metal struck Mr. Messler, who was standing some distance behind and to the right of the shooter. He died on the way to the hospital. Mrs. Messler, as administratrix of his estate, filed suit about a year later against the importers and against Simmons.

Her theory was that the gun was defectively designed and built. Her metallurgical expert testified that the hole cut for the slide pin had shaved away 58 percent of the left side of the barrel that burst, and that defective brazing between the two barrels let the failure happen. The importers answered that the gun had been altered after sale and that the explosion came from overloaded shells and misuse.

The alteration question was largely settled before trial. Simmons moved for summary judgment on an affidavit describing the soldering, and the widow's expert agreed that soldering at that low temperature could not have damaged the brazing. No one opposed the motion, the court granted summary judgment for Simmons, and no party appealed that ruling. At trial, Judge Jack R. Parr kept the importers from blaming the added rib, and the jury heard the competing design and misuse theories. The case took roughly nine years from filing to trial. The jury returned a verdict for Mrs. Messler of $275,000.

Oklahoma's interest statute required the court to add pre-judgment interest to a personal injury verdict, and the trial court entered judgment for $430,822.04, with interest running on that sum after judgment. On appeal, Mrs. Messler was represented by Ed Abel and Leo H. Whinery of Abel, Musser, Sokolosky & Clark in Oklahoma City, the firm now known as Abel Law Firm.

The importers appealed, challenging the expert testimony, the exclusion of the modification evidence, the judge's comments, the proximate cause instruction, the denial of a directed verdict and interest on interest. On June 5, 1984, the Oklahoma Supreme Court affirmed in an opinion by Justice Hodges, with three justices concurring in part and dissenting in part. It held that the importers had stayed silent at the summary judgment hearing and could not then argue the modification, that the evidence of cause was in real conflict and properly went to the jury, and that post-judgment interest runs on the full judgment including pre-judgment interest. The court denied rehearing on September 26, 1984.