Gunmaker Remington to pay $73M to settle lawsuit with Sandy Hook families

February 15, 2022 in News by RBN Staff

source:  axios

 

Erin DohertyOriana Gonzalez

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A mourner places a carved wooden cross at a streetside memorial on Dec. 21, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

Remington Arms on Tuesday agreed to a $73 million settlement of liability claims from nine families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, according to court documents and lawyers for the families.

Why it matters: It’s the first time in the U.S. a gun manufacturer has been held responsible for a mass shooting, ABC News reports.

Driving the news: Families of five adults and four children killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School sued the gunmaker nearly eight years ago for its marketing practices, claiming that Remington “recklessly marketed a military-grade gun to civilians.”

  • “The plaintiffs in this action hereby give Notice that a settlement agreement has been executed between the parties,” according to the court filing.
  • A Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle was used in the December 2012 shooting, which killed 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut.

What they’re saying: “Today is not about honoring our son Benjamin. Today is about how and why Ben died,” said Francine Wheeler, referring to her 6-year-old son who was killed in the shooting.

  • “It is about what is right and what is wrong … Our legal system has given us some justice today,” she said, adding that her and her husband, David, “will never have true justice. True justice would be our fifteen-year-old healthy and standing next to us right now. But Benny will never be 15, he will be six forever because he is gone forever.”

Veronique Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah was killed in the shooting, called today an “inflection point when our duty of care to our children as a society finally supersedes the bottom line of an industry that made such an atrocity at Sandy Hook possible to begin with.”

  • “Today’s a day of accountability for an industry that has thus far been operating with immunity and impunity. And for this, I am grateful,” said

Joshua Koskoff, an attorney representing the families, added that he “had thought the case was about the gun, but it’s just as much about greed.”

  • Remington’s goal was to become a “massive, behemoth gun company,” Koskoff said. “And when you’re building that market, marketing was … a big part of this case. We’re moving on in essence from the gun to these other principles of fair dealing, these principles of responsibility.”

Remington, which has since filed for bankruptcy, argued that it manufactured a legal firearm and that the gunman, not the manufacturer, is responsible for the shooting.

  • The company did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment Tuesday.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional details about the settlement and statements by the families.