Mr. Ryan represented Fratelli Tanfoglio, S.n.c. to win an order vacating an $11 million federal default judgment. The plaintiff in this case was rendered a quadriplegic when he dropped a .25 caliber pistol on the front porch of his home in 1992. Mr. Ryan was not engaged until two years after entry of an $11 million judgment, when the plaintiff began execution proceedings against the defendant in Italy. The defendants showed that the judgment was void because the court lacked personal jurisdiction over the Italian gun manufacturer in the State of Louisiana. Critical to the jurisdictional issue was proving that Fratelli Tanfoglio, S.n.c. did not place the pistol or any of its component parts into the "stream of commerce" -- a fact that the court initially held was precluded by default. See Jackson v. FIE Corp., 302 F.3d 515 (5th Cir. 2002). After appeal to the United States Fifth Circuit in 2002, where the district court’s initial ruling denying the motion to vacate the default was reversed, and four additional years of jurisdictional discovery, the judgment against Fratelli Tanfoglio, S.n.c was ultimately vacated by the district court.
Jackson v. FIE.