This could change the way similar cases are handled in the future.
Nearly ten years after the tragedy, the families of the victims from the deadly Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting reached a historic $73 million settlement with the now-bankrupt gunmaker Remington.
This comes after the families rejected a $33 million offer over the summer; the victory caps a long legal battle over how Remington advertised its rifle, used in the killings of 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn. The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother before the elementary school rampage, then killed himself.
During a press conference, the families involved in the lawsuit celebrated their legal victory and expressed hopes that it’ll provide some justice for their lost loved ones.
“This landmark, historic victory sends a forceful and compelling message to manufacturers and to the insurance and banking industries that support them: This is a high-risk market, it is not profitable, and you will be held accountable,” said Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son Dylan was killed in the mass shooting.
What are the details of the settlement?
In 2014, nine of the victims’ families sued Remington, stating that the gun manufacturer was at least partially to blame for the tragedy because of the way it marketed its Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle as a war weapon to younger, at-risk men. In one such ad, it features the rifle along with the phrase, “Consider Your Man Card Reissued.”
But the lawsuit against Remington, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020, wasn’t cleared to move forward by a Connecticut court until 2019. Later that same year, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Remington over the families’ suit.
What else does the settlement include?
The families hope to shed more light on the gunmaker’s business activities: As part of the settlement, families will also be allowed to make public thousands of Remington’s internal documents, which they say will expose more wrongdoing. But this could take some time: The plaintiffs’ attorney Josh Koskoff says more work needs to be done to make sure the records are digestible to the public.
Why does this victory matter?
This marks the first time a gunmaker has been held responsible for a mass shooting, and parents of the victims hope it will set a new precedent for similar cases.
“Our legal system has given us some justice today,” says Francine Wheeler, who lost her son Benjamin Wheeler.
What does it mean for future cases?
The case could provide a roadmap for other families who’ve lost loved ones in mass shootings, because it successfully challenged a 2005 law that protects gunmakers from responsibility when their own weapons are used during criminal acts.
Sadly, mass shootings have only gotten worse during the coronavirus pandemic: According to the Gun Violence Archive, the United States saw 417 such incidents in 2019, a figure which climbed to 611 in 2020 and 693 in 2021.
