In February this year, the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre reached a $73 million settlement with gun manufacturer Remington and its four insurers. The parties achieved the settlement more than seven years after the families filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Remington, the manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre that left 20 children and six adults dead in Newtown, Connecticut.
The settlement also resulted in the families obtaining and being able to make public thousands of pages of internal Remington company documents that exemplify the company's wrongdoing and carry important lessons on preventing future mass shootings.
The case alleged that Remington should be held at least partially liable for the shooting because of its marketing strategies extolled the militaristic qualities of the rifle and reinforced the image of a combat weapon in violation of a Connecticut law that prevents deceptive marketing practices. The rifle was "designed as a military weapon" and "engineered to deliver maximum carnage" with extreme efficiency, according to legal briefs.
This settlement showed the U.S. that the immunity protecting the gun industry is not bulletproof. The settlement should also serve as a warning to the insurance industry, particularly insurers providing gun manufacturers coverage. Insurers do not typically stand behind and provide coverage repeatedly for an insured who does not mitigate losses or care for the risk they create. Prudent insurers would raise rates every time a gun incident happens in the U.S.
Editor's Note: According to reports from authorities, in the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, an "AR-style rifle" was used in the shooting. There are many manufacturers that make and provide rifles like the one that was used in the massacre, and we don't yet know what manufacturer, and thus insurer, will be implicated in the incident. When a manufacturer is identified, the families of the 21 victims still may not have any recourse against the manufacturer. In the Sandy Hook case against Remington, the families won due to advertising tactics that violated Connecticut state law. A similar outcome cannot be guaranteed for the families suffering after the Robb attack, but we expect similar lawsuits to be filed.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.
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