Syracuse University could be liable if someone were injured by one of the four Department of Public Safety shotguns that were lost more than three months ago, said a law professor who specializes in tort litigation.

On Oct. 16, 2015, DPS officers realized that four unloaded 12 gauge shotguns — which had been placed in the back of a truck following the officers’ annual certification at the Elbridge Rod and Gun Club in Elbridge, New York — were missing.

Hannah Warren, public information and internal communications officer for DPS, said in an email Tuesday that she could not provide any further comment on the situation. Emails to Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs, also went unreturned.

Timothy Lytton, a professor at Georgia State University’s College of Law, said in a phone interview that liability would depend on whether the guns were properly secured and if someone were injured within a close proximity — both in time and distance — to the guns being lost.

Lytton, who authored “Suing the Gun Industry: A Battle at the Crossroads of Gun Control and Mass Torts,” said DPS likely didn’t secure the guns properly.

“The test for carelessness is whether or not the care was that of an ordinary, prudent person under the circumstances,” he said. “So it’s probably safe to say that an ordinary, prudent person under the circumstances doesn’t leave firearms unlocked to the extent that they would fall out of the back of a truck.”

But Lytton added that SU’s liability would also depend on whether an incident occurred in a timely manner and at a site close to where the guns were lost.

If someone were to have found one of the guns and shot someone with it within a day or two, “then that might give rise to liability,” Lytton said. But if, for example, a gun went through several transactions and ended up in a criminal incident in New York City months after it was originally lost, it would be less likely that there would be liability exposure, Lytton added.

“The more time that elapses and the more hands that the guns go through, the more difficult it would be to establish liability,” he said.

But Lytton added that it would ultimately be up to a jury to both determine the relevance of the proximity and whether carelessness occurred in handling the shotguns.

“If an average juror thinks the link is too long or too freakish or that too many odd things are going on … those are things that would weaken the liability in the eyes of a jury,” Lytton said.

Published on February 2, 2016 at 10:32 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu