Travieso v. Glock Incorporated

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedApril 13, 2023
Docket2:20-cv-00523
StatusUnknown

This text of Travieso v. Glock Incorporated (Travieso v. Glock Incorporated) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travieso v. Glock Incorporated, (D. Ariz. 2023).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Carlos Daniel Travieso, No. CV-20-00523-PHX-SMB 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 Glock GesmbH, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 Before the Court is Defendant Glock Ges.M.B.H.’s (“Glock”) Motion for Summary 16 Judgment (“MSJ”) Based on Release. (Doc. 92.) Plaintiff Carlos Daniel Travieso filed a 17 Response (Doc. 95), and Defendant a Reply (Doc. 103). Defendant also filed a Separate 18 Statement of Undisputed Material Facts in support of the MSJ (Doc. 93), and Plaintiff 19 submitted a Controverting Statement of Facts in Response (Doc. 99). All were filed under 20 seal. Oral argument was scheduled for April 5, 2023. However, after consideration of the 21 pleadings and the relevant law, the Court finds that oral argument is not necessary and will 22 vacate oral argument. See LRCiv 7.2(f) (“The Court may decide motions without oral 23 argument.”). The Court will also grant Glock’s MSJ for the following reasons. 24 I. BACKGROUND 25 Plaintiff became a paraplegic after being shot with a Glock Model 19 Gen5 semi- 26 automatic pistol on March 17, 2018. (Doc. 92 at 2.) Plaintiff was participating in a youth 27 camping trip organized by . 28 (Docs. 92; 93; 99 at 2.) , owned the pistol and kept it inside his vehicle during the camping trip. (Docs. 93; 99 at 2.) x 2 || 3 | 4| EE (The pistol was visible between the front console and front passenger seat. || (Ud.) The pistol was loaded with a cartridge in the chamber and cartridges in the magazine. Ud.) 7 During the drive home, ggg left Plaintiff and the minors unattended in the car 8 || while he entered a convenience store. (/d.) During this time, C.M.T., a fourteen-year-old girl seated in the backseat, asked Plaintiff, seated in the front passenger seat, to pass her 10}| the pistol. Ud.) Plaintiff removed the pistol’s magazine before passing it to C.M.T. (dd. at3.) Plaimtiff did not eject the cartridge in the chamber. (/d.) Mistakenly thinking the 12}| gun was unloaded, C.M.T. pulled the trigger while the pistol was pointing at the front seat. 13} Ud.) The bullet struck Plaintiff in the back, resulting in serious injuries, including paraplegia. (/d.) 15 After the incident, Plaintiff and gg began settlement discussions. □□□□□□□□□□ counsel and exchanged emails on January 15, 2019, consisting of negotiations and changes to a proposed settlement agreement. (Doc. 92 at 3.) For example, □□□□□□□□□□□ counsel requested a specification that the settlement agreement be construed under Arizona 19}| law. Ud.) Plaintiff's counsel also requested ministerial edits, changes to the structure and payment terms of the settlement funds, and for the confidentiality terms to not apply to specific government agencies that serviced Plaintiff. (/d. at 4.) The parties executed the final “Settlement Agreement and Release of All Claims” (“Settlement Agreement’) on || January 16, 2019, for x (Ud. at 3—4, 93-3 at 5-10.) 24 Over a year later, Plaintiff—through the same counsel—sued Glock, alleging the | pistol from Plaintiff's incident is defectively designed, Defendants failed to provide || appropriate warnings, and Defendants were therefore nonparties at fault. (Ud. at 4—5.) Glock served discovery requests on Plaintiff and production subpoenas addressed to || nonpartics—. (Doc. 92 at 5.) Plaintiff never disclosed to Glock that

1 he raised a prior claim against arising from the same incident, or that he 2 received a settlement from . (Id.) Glock alleges they learned of the Settlement 3 Agreement after serving a subpoena on . (Id.) 4 Plaintiff opposed Glock’s attempt to obtain the subpoena, resulting in a discovery 5 conference and Glock’s filing a Motion to Compel. (Id.) However, the parties agreed to 6 the disclosure of the Settlement Agreement without further judicial intervention (see Doc. 7 83). (Doc. 92 at 5.) Now, Plaintiff and Glock dispute the meaning of the Settlement 8 Agreement. Glock argues Plaintiff’s current claims are barred by the Settlement 9 Agreement’s terms because it precluded any claim against a third party and the “settlement 10 sum constitutes a complete settlement, discharge and accord and satisfaction of a disputed 11 sum.” (Id. at 2.) Plaintiff argues he only waived claims against 12 13 (Id.) 14 The relevant sections discussed read: 1. Release of All Claims 15 The undersigned Releasor hereby acknowledges that in consideration of the 16 settlement payments described below, Releasor, on his own behalf and on behalf of all persons claiming through him with respect to the above- 17 described Loss1, does hereby fully and forever release and discharge 18 Releasees and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, servants, companies or entities, successors and assigns of and from any and 19 all past, present or future claims, counterclaims, demands, rights, damages, 20 costs, expenses, or loss of any kind (including loss of consortium) which Releasor has, has had or may subsequently discover that he has on or about 21 March 17, 2018 as a result of the accidental discharge of a firearm owned by 22 (the “Accident”). The Release provided applies to all claims or actions including those that are presently, known, those that are 23 unknown, those that have already accrued and/or those that accrue in the 24 future. Releasor acknowledges and agrees that this Release is intended to be 25 construed broadly to resolve any and all claims or disputes that may arise between him and Releasees, directly or indirectly, related to the Accident. 26 2. Future Damages 27 Insofar as the damages and effects resulting from the Accident described 28 1 The loss is defined as “accidental discharge of a firearm owned by .” 1 herein may not be fully known and may be more numerous or more serious than it is now understood or expected, Releasor agrees, as further 2 consideration of this Agreement, that the Release applies to any and all 3 injuries, damages and losses resulting from the Accident, even though unanticipated, unexpected or unknown, as well as any and all injuries, 4 damages and losses (including claims for loss of consortium) which have 5 already developed and which are now mown or anticipated. 5. No Admission of Liability 6 Releasor understands and agrees that this Settlement Agreement and Release 7 of All Claims involves the compromise of a disputed claim. Releasor agrees, understands and stipulates that payment of the settlement sum 8 constitutes a complete settlement, discharge and accord and satisfaction 9 of a disputed claim. Releasor further acknowledges and agrees that Releasees do not, in any manner, by virtue of entering into this agreement or 10 paying the settlement sum admit liability to anyone because of any incident, 11 act or omission described in or cognizable by the claims, charges, or causes of action released hereby. By entering into this Agreement, it is the intent of 12 Releasees to void the cost of trial and the uncertainty of liability in the event 13 of litigation of the claims herein released. The existence of this Agreement and the payment of the settlement sum shall not be deemed or construed as 14 an admission of liability on the part of Releasees, by whom liability is expressly denied. 15 Releasor further understands and agrees that the existence of this Settlement 16 Agreement and payment of the settlement sum does not constitute an admission as to any specific issues upon which a claim for liability could be 17 based including, but not limited to, the claim that any individual acted 18 unreasonably or the claim that any individual is an agent of any of the entities referenced herein for purposes of respondeat superior. 19 7. No Additional Claim 20 Releasor represents that he has not sold, assigned, transferred, conveyed or otherwise disposed of any claims related to the Accident.

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Bluebook (online)
Travieso v. Glock Incorporated, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travieso-v-glock-incorporated-azd-2023.