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Nine families whose loved ones were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting accepted a $73 million settlement from the defunct gunmaker Remington, ending a seven-year wrongful death lawsuit that began as a long shot and became a landmark case.
“These families would give that (settlement) up to get their loved ones back,” said their attorney Josh Koskoff, breaking into tears during an emotional two-hour news conference with families announcing the settlement. “That would be true justice.”
It marks the first time a gun manufacturer has been held to account for a mass shooting in the United States.
The families argued Remington negligently entrusted to civilian consumers an assault-style rifle that is suitable for use only by military and law enforcement personnel and violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) through the sale or wrongful marketing of the rifle.
Nicole Hockley, whose son was among the 20 first-graders and six educators killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, said the families’ victory sent a message to gun manufacturers, insurers and the banking industry that “this is a high-risk market, it is not profitable, and you will be held accountable.”
“We heard that we had an impossible and unwinnable case — that firearm manufacturers were immune and untouchable,” Hockley said through tears. “For eight long years, we continued our fight to hold Remington accountable for its role in prioritizing profit above safety and using reckless marketing techniques to appeal to at-risk and violent-prone young men.”
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown and, during the course of 264 seconds, fatally shot 20 first-grade children and six staff members.
He also wounded two other staff members.
Lanza’s severe and deteriorating mental health problems, his preoccupation with violence and access to his mother’s weapons “proved a recipe for mass murder,” according to Connecticut’s child advocate.
The rifle Lanza used was Remington’s version of the AR-15 assault rifle, which is similar to the standard-issue M16 military service rifle used by the United States Army and other nations’ armed forces, but fires only in semiautomatic mode.
In November, Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was found liable in a lawsuit brought against him by families of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims.
