Can a Weapon's Insufficient Safety Case Leading to a Child's Death Be Tried In a State With Which the Manufacturer Has Trade Contacts ?

In A. Uberti and C. v. Leonardo, 181 Ariz. 565, 892 P.2d 1354 (Ariz.), the court considered whether an Italian manufacturer of a replica gun, that allegedly lacked sufficient safety features and that accidentally discharged, killing a child, could be haled into an Arizona court. The trial court that had originally presided over the case made factual findings concerning the manufacturer's contacts with Arizona. The court noted that the manufacturer produced a catalog printed in English that the manufacturer's distributor disseminated in the United States, that the guns were designed to appeal to consumers in the western part of the United States, that the manufacturer had at least eight distributors in the United States, that the manufacturer had exported at least 10,000 firearms to the United States within a four-year period, that the packaging and instructions included information about the Italian manufacturer, and that the manufacturer's products were sold in Tucson gun stores, which regularly carried the products. In A. Uberti, the court looked to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Asahi Metal Industry Co. v. Superior Court of California, 480 U.S. 102, 94 L. Ed. 2d 92, 107 S. Ct. 1026 (1987).