Judge Approves Sniper Settlement
I wish Bushmaster hadn’t settled but they did. A judge approved the settlement:
The dealer and manufacturer of the rifle used by the Washington-area snipers will pay $2.5 million to the families of six victims and to two surviving victims under a settlement approved Friday by a Washington state judge.
The settlement, reached in September, marked the first time a gun manufacturer paid damages for negligence that led to violence, said David Beninger, one of the attorneys representing the families.
I hope it’s the last. However, since they’ve set a precedent, I doubt it will be.
December 9th, 2004 at 12:31 pm
Bushmaster made a good statement about their action. Their part of the settlement could have either gone to lawyers to fight the suit, or it could have gone to the families (it was the remaining amount covered by their insurance policy). Either way it would cost them the same, and they did not admit any wrong doing. Of course Brady is claiming a victory in this one.
Still, it would have been better had congress passed the idiot lawsuit imunity bill to protect Bushmaster.
I think you can find their statement here.
Of course the media will side with Brady and treat this as a big victory for gun control. Blech
December 9th, 2004 at 1:21 pm
How much did the maker of the car they were shooting from have to pay?
Crap like this should never collect a dime.
December 9th, 2004 at 1:57 pm
Since the car wasn’t targeted by the lawsuit, they didn’t pay anything. The problem here isn’t just limited to the firearms industry either, we can read the paper nearly every day (I make a point of surfing CNN.com to get my daily laughs) to find cases such as these that should have never come to field in court.
People spilling coffee on themselves, people driving motorhomes deciding to make coffee in the back because the cruise control’s on, people failing to follow the rules of whatever piece of equipment they’re using…
Now, you’ve also likely seen all the warning labels on devices sold today, some of them are incredibly stupid sounding but you have to wonder “Did someone really do this?” Yep, they either did, or the company had the forethought to put that on there before some idiot sues them without it.
A great deal of firearms manufacturers are puting the phrase “Read manual before operating” on their products to stem the tide of this, now they need to start in the opposite direction and not settle out of court, but instead make a point of the case and slam it into the ground.
December 10th, 2004 at 11:12 pm
Boycott Bushmaster
Bushmaster Firearms earns the (dubious) distinction of being only the fourth company that I’ve ever decided to boycott.