NEW YORK _ The National Rifle Association won permission from a judge to question a former New York regulatory official under oath in a lawsuit claiming the state illegally discouraged banks and insurers from doing business with the organization after a spate of deadly mass shootings in 2017.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Christian Hummel in Albany on Wednesday ruled the gun-rights organization may depose Maria Vullo, the former superintendent at the New York Department of Financial Services who led an investigation into an NRA insurance program called Carry Guard. The New York regulator determined last year that the product is unlawful.
Hummel said the NRA can question Vullo about a phone call she had about Carry Guard with a regulator in California, which has also cracked down on the insurance program. The NRA claims the phone call is "central" to its claim that the NRA was targeted by Vullo and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a result of "selective enforcement" of New York law.
The NRA "has demonstrated that Ms. Vullo's specific rationale for her alleged actions is at issue in this case such that her deposition testimony may be the only way to address these 'critical blanks' in the record," Hummel said.
The state's investigation resulted in insurer Chubb Ltd. and insurance broker Lockton Cos. halting their programs for NRA members and paying millions of dollars in fines. The NRA claims Cuomo and the regulator violated the organization's free speech rights.
