Sandy Hook families have their day in high court
NEWTOWN — In a victory for the 10 families who brought a wrongful death claim against the maker of the assaultstyle weapon used in the Sandy Hook massacre, they are headed for trial.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Remington, the arms manufacturer.
“The families are grateful that the Supreme Court upheld precedent and denied Remington’s latest attempt to avoid accountability,” said Josh Koskoff, the lead attorney for the families, in a prepared statement. “We are ready to resume discovery and proceed towards trial in order to shed light on Remington’s profitdriven strategy to expand the AR15 market and court highrisk users at the expense of Americans’ safety.”
Nicole Hockley, the mother of a firstgrader who was slain in the massacre, is among the family members suing Remington.
“Thank you, U.S. Supreme Court for allowing the Remington lawsuit to progress!” Hockley tweeted. “Hope we can change their sales and marketing processes as a result!”
At stake is whether the nation’s oldest gunmaker can be held liable for the worst shooting crime in Connecticut history, or whether Remington is protected under a federal law that shields the industry from most liability when its firearms are criminally misused.
The case springs from the slayings on Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman shot his way into a locked elementary school with an AR15style rifle and killed 20 firstgraders and six educators,
Remington appealed a divided Connecticut Supreme Court ruling in March.
That 43 state Supreme Court ruling in March made national headlines, because it overturned a lower court ruling that threw out the families’ wrongful death case and returned the case to trial court.
The split decision, reached after 16 months of deliberation in Connecticut Supreme Court, cleared the way for what experts said was highly improbable: bringing a gunmaker to trial over the criminal misuse of a firearm.
While it remains the burden of the 10 families to convince a jury that Remington is liable more so than the disturbed gunman who took his mother’s rifle from an unlocked closet — the high court’s decision to reinstate the case in trial court bolstered the families’ argument.
They claim gunmakers can be liable if they are
recklessly negligent in marketing militarygrade weapons to civilians.
The state Supreme Court’s 43 ruling came two years after a state Superior Court judge threw out the families’ suit on grounds that Remington was shielded from liability in federal law.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision means the families’ lawsuit can return to state Superior Court, where both sides will continue a process called discovery to collect evidence in preparation for trial.
Reaction mixed
Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, welcomed the news.
“The discovery phase of the big tobacco lawsuits was a game changer,” Murray tweeted. “Soon, we will learn that the gun industry has been reckless in its pursuit of profits.”
Remington, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2018, did not immediately respond with a comment.
The Newtownbased trade association for the firearms industry was disappointed.
“The case now returns to Connecticut state court for trial where the (families) will need to prove that Remington’s lawful advertising of a legal product violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA), the only claim remaining in the case, and that it somehow caused (Sandy Hook shooter) Adam Lanza to murder innocent victims,” the NSSF said in a statement. “We are confident that Remington will prevail at trial.”
Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision good news for victims of gun violence, and “progress in their fight for justice.”
“[T]he Sandy Hook families will have their day in court — a day to make their voices heard and a day to ensure that no other family has to endure the grief they have faced,” Lamont said in a prepared statement. “However, we still need a moment of action in Washington to bring an end to the mass shootings that have become an everyday tragedy for our nation.”
Newtown’s Democratic congressional delegation called Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision “another crack in the legal armor of the gun industry.”
“For years, gun manufacturers have been allowed to operate with nearblanket immunity — producing weapons of war and marketing them to the masses with zero accountability,” read a joint statement by U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes. “This critical victory reinforces the need for Congress to pass legislation repealing the gun industry’s sweetheart immunity deal and unlocking the doors to justice for all victims of gun violence.”