John Diedrich

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The gun-selling website Armslist won a key victory in a Milwaukee County courtroom Tuesday as a judge dismissed all counts brought by the family of a woman killed by her estranged husband at a Brookfield salon four years ago.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro ruled that the federal Communications Decency Act protected Armslist against negligence and other claims brought in a lawsuit by the family of Zina Daniel Haughton.

In October 2012, she and two other women were killed and four other women were wounded by her abusive husband, Radcliffe Haughton, at the Azana Salon & Spa in Brookfield. He then fatally shot himself.

Radcliffe Haughton was prohibited by a restraining order from buying a gun, but he was able to sidestep the law in using Armslist. He bought the gun from a private seller that he found through an ad on the website. Federal law requires federally licensed gun dealers to do background checks, but private sales are not subject to such checks.

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed a year ago against Armslist, its founders, and Devin Linn, the Cedarburg man who sold the murder weapon. Counts remain against Linn, but all the counts against Armslist and its founders were dismissed.

ARCHIVE COVERAGE: Azana Spa shooting

After the ruling, attorneys representing Zina Daniel Haughton said they needed to talk to their clients before deciding their next move. Yamahiro's ruling could be appealed.

An attorney representing the victim's family argued that Armslist was created to be a nonstop gun show where people barred by law from owning or buying a gun could easily find a firearm, no questions asked.

"Armslist knew the grave risk that it could arm killers like Radcliffe Haughton," said Jonathan Lowy, an attorney with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which is representing Zina Daniel Haughton's family in the case.

But an attorney for Armslist argued that Congress intended to protect websites from such lawsuits with language in the Communications Decency Act. Because Armslist did not create the gun-selling ad or participate in the transaction, the act gives the business immunity, he argued.

A similar suit against Armslist, in Illinois, was dismissed — a decision upheld by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Yamahiro agreed the law gives immunity to Armslist but said Armslist is deliberately operating in an online gun market that others have abandoned and he noted Congress' "well-documented impotence to take reasonable action to police firearms which allow meaningful background checks."

Yamahiro, who is part of a judicial group focused on domestic violence, noted there was a similar case a year before Zina Daniel Haughton was killed, where an abuser was able to get a gun through an ad on Armslist and commit a murder.

"It certainly won't be the last (such death)," the judge said. "Ms. Haughton's death may be in vain."