Legal fight between Sandy Hook families and gunmaker prep for trial
NEWTOWN — The 10 Sandy Hook families suing Remington in a wrongful death lawsuit are used to the spotlight.
The families’ court fight against the nation’s oldest gunmaker over the 2012 shooting of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School dates to 2014, when wounds were still raw over the crime.
Last week, the families won the latest fight over the right to question Remington executives under oath about internal corporate affairs.
But Remington came right back and filed a request with the court to throw out the families’ lawsuit, agruing they have shown no evidence that
Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza saw Remington advertisements for the AR-15-style rifle used in the crime, or that the ads were the contributing factor in the mass shooting.
“(The families’) remaining claim is focused narrowly on the specific content of any advertisement for the rifle that was seen by Lanza and whether any such advertisement in fact caused him to commit his horrific criminal acts,” reads Remington’s latest argument in state Superior Court. “(The families) fail to identify any advertisements at all and, importantly, fail to plead the essential factual allegations that (1) Lanza saw an offending advertisement and (2) but for seeing the advertisement, he would not have planned and carried out his crimes.”
As the two sides prepare for trial in 2021, here is a timeline of the highly visible case:
December 2012 — A 20-year-old named Adam Lanza takes his mother’s AR-15-style rifle from an unlocked closet, shoots his way into a locked Sandy Hook School, and kills 20 first-graders and six educators. President Barack Obama would later call that day the most difficult of his eight years in office.
December 2014 — The families of nine people killed in the Sandy Hook shooting and a teacher who was shot during the crime file a wrongful death lawsuit against Remington, the maker of the rifle used in the slaying. Observers call the lawsuit a longshot, because a 2005 federal law protects the gun industry from most liability when firearms are misused.
March 2016 — The families’ lawsuit is among the defining issues in the Democratic presidential primary between Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sanders said he supports the 2005 federal law that shields the gun industry. Clinton, who voted against the law as a senator, said it should be repealed.
October 2016 — State Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis throws out the lawsuit against Remington brought by the 10 Sandy Hook families. The families appeal to state Supreme Court.
March 2018 — Remington files to reorganize its
finances under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in part due to bad debt Remington took on when investors left the company after the 2012 shooting. In 2012, Remington had net sales of close to $1 billion.
March 2019 — The Connecticut Supreme Court overrules part of the 2016 state Superior Court decision that threw out the Sandy Hook families’ lawsuit against Remington. Remington appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nov.ember2019 – The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Remington’s appeal of the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case sends the case back to the lower court, which schedules a trial for 2021.
February 2020 — The 10 families streamline their case into a single claim: That Remington violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act by marketing the AR-15style
rifle used in the Sandy Hook shooting to civilians for criminal purposes, and that the marketing motivated Lanza to commit his crimes
May 2020 — A fight by the families to grill Remington executives about its internal affairs takes center stage in state Superior Court in Waterbury.
June 15, 2020 — Bellis sides with the 10 Sandy Hook families and denies Remington’s motion to protect its executives from discovery questions Remington considers invasive and improper.
June 17, 2020 — Remington files a motion asking Bellis to throw out the Sandy Hook families’ lawsuit, because it fails to show that Lanza saw the gunmaker’s advertising or that if Lanza did see Remington’s advertisements, that the ads were the cause of the gunman’s rampage.