Remington Settles
BY Herschel Smith3 years, 3 months ago
Remington and the families of nine victims from the Sandy Hook school massacre, the second-deadliest school shooting in US history, have reached a settlement that was years in the making: the gun-maker and manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15 used by shooter Adam Lanza will pay a total of $33MM. Divided up among the families, that comes to $3.66MM each (before the lawyer’s cut). The families insist the money is no substitute for the brutal killing of their loved one.
According to Reuters, the settlement must still be approved by the Alabama judge overseeing the Remington bankruptcy case. The plaintiffs allege that Remington’s marketing contributed to the shooting. In a February court filing, the plaintiff’s legal team argued that the value of their claims could exceed $1 billion, including punitive damage – a pretty obvious negotiating tactic.
Sickening. Why didn’t Remington fight this all the way? There is a federal law in place to prevent this sort of thing. Why did they cave?
And tell me why I should ever buy a Remington product again?
Via WiscoDave.
On July 28, 2021 at 11:55 pm, Miles said:
“Why didn’t they cave?”
Probably simple mathematics.
The insurance carriers/bankruptcy trustees offered the settlement. I’d bet that 33 mil was figured to be less than the legal costs of going to trial and all the subsequent appeals even if they ultimately won. They don’t care about anything but the bottom line.
“….why I should ever buy a Remington product again?”
Well, maybe considering that this was the ‘old’ Remington, that was in receivership after declaring bankruptcy, and the ‘new’ Remington whose new owners who bought the assets and the tradename, likely have not one damn thing to do with this unfortunate settlement, maybe doing business with the ‘new’ Remington isn’t such an distasteful thing to consider.
But that’s just me, Herschel. You do what you want.
On July 29, 2021 at 7:34 am, Fred said:
Show me the autopsies. Not the summeries, not the reports, but the autopsies.
On July 29, 2021 at 7:55 am, Don Curton said:
Almost every publicly traded company exists solely to produce a return on investment to the shareholder. Period. They do this by manufacturing a product and selling it at a profit. What that product is, what it represents to the customer, and what it represents to the American culture, has almost zero importance.
Everything else you might believe about a company is pure marketing fantasy.
Buy a product because of quality, price, availability or need. Not because such and such company has good marketing.
And Miles probably has it right. It was a dollars decision. Remington (and all other companies) are largely unconcerned with the legal aspects of the 2nd.
On July 29, 2021 at 8:34 am, bubbaearle said:
How can a company whose business is solely dependent on the existence of the 2nd amendment operate in a manner that disregards the legal aspects of the 2nd amendment?
I won’t do business with them or any other company that has that stand.
On July 29, 2021 at 8:40 am, Greg said:
I believe that Miles has the truth of it. Into the math also figures the bankruptcy. The trustee(s) want to get as much money as possible for the creditors. The lawsuit represents an unknown. Settling the lawsuit yields a hard number the trustee(s) can take to the Bankruptcy Court, rather than an open-ended series of judgements followed by appeals Ad infinitum.