The New Hampshire-based gun manufacturer SIG Sauer settled a $10 million lawsuit involving a sheriff’s deputy in Loudoun County, Virginia who was injured by her department-issued P320 handgun while removing it from her belt last year.
Officer Marcie Vadnais alleged that her gun went off without a trigger pull in February 2018. The bullet broke her leg, and she suffered serious blood loss.
Vadnais and the gun maker reached an undisclosed financial settlement on May 30, according to a story written in early June by New Hampshire Public Radio.
Jury selection and opening arguments had already wrapped up when the settlement was announced.
Vadnais’s lawyer, Jeff Bagnell, said his client, a seven-year veteran of the department, is currently working a desk job.
“No amount of money can fix what happened to her, unfortunately, that’s something you have to take into account,” Bagnell told NHPR.
SIG Sauer is currently facing a class-action suit claiming it was aware of the gun’s faulty design but continued to sell it. In 2017, the manufacturer announced a “voluntary upgrade” to improve the weapon but stands behind claims the unmodified version is safe.
The same gun is supplied to the U.S. Army as part of a contract worth nearly $600 million.
