“Financial institutions like JP Morgan and Franklin Square learned that lesson when Remington went bankrupt.” An important part of that goal has been showing banks and insurers that companies that sell assault weapons to civilians are fraught with financial risk,” he said. “Since this case was filed in 2014, the families’ focus has been on preventing the next Sandy Hook. Koskoff, in a statement, said the aim of the lawsuit was primarily intended to hit the company financially. The offer is now subject to the families’ approval, and also that of a federal judge in charge of the company’s most recent bankruptcy case in Alabama.
The company, which emerged from its first bankruptcy in 2018 under control of its creditors, and which filed a second bankruptcy declaration in 2020, disclosed its settlement offer on Tuesday in a filing to the Connecticut superior court. Remington has argued in defense of the lawsuit, filed in 2014, that Lanza is the only person responsible for the killings, and that its firearm, which belonged to Lanza’s mother, was legally manufactured and sold. The mass shooting ended when Lanza took his own life. The killer, Adam Lanza, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to commit the murders at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, on the morning of 14 December 2012 after shooting his mother at their home. In a February court filing, lawyers estimated the wrongful death claims likely totalled in excess of $225m, rising above $1bn with punitive damages.Īn attorney for the families, Josh Koskoff, said the families “would consider their next steps” in response to the offer by Remington, an Alabama-based company that was one of the nation’s oldest, largest and best-known gun manufacturers before filing for bankruptcy in 2018. If accepted, the proposal by Remington would mean each of the families would receive $3.66m, substantially less than the sums they were seeking. The manufacturer of an assault rifle used to kill 20 schoolchildren and six adults in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre has offered $33m to settle lawsuits from the families of nine of the victims.