Newtown victims to file lawsuits
Reuters reports that some of the families of the victims of Adam Lanza in the Newtown shootings two years ago are planning lawsuits for wrongful deaths;
The parents of eight of the children killed in the Dec. 14, 2012, carnage, which 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza ended by shooting himself dead as he heard police sirens approach, have notified Connecticut courts that they may file wrongful death lawsuits in state or federal court.
Their initial court filings, related to legal entities created in memory of their children, do not indicate who the families could target in their lawsuits, according to a chief court clerk for North Fairfield County Probate Court.
While the parents could not be reached for comment, a spokesman for Bridgeport law firm Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder said that a lawyer at the firm had recently met with some of the Newtown parents about potential suits.
I sympathize with them, and I understand their feeling that they need to strike out at someone, but whoever they end up filing these lawsuits against are not the people responsible for the deaths of their children. The two people responsible, Adam Lanza and his mother, are dead.
I know that they think that they can force the government to write new laws, but the truth is that Adam Lanza broke a number of laws when he committed his horrendous crime. Laws won’t prevent these shootings. Connecticut passed a number of new laws in the wake of the shootings, none of which would have prevented Lanza, or any future gun man, from circumventing existing statutes.
When existing laws prevented Lanza from buying a gun, he killed his mother and took her guns. I guess murdering your mother isn’t illegal enough. Then he took those stolen guns into a school, which is illegal by newly written federal laws, but not enough. Then he started murdering people, again, illegal but not enough.
But I guess we all feel the need to do something, anything, whether it’s effective or not.
Category: Guns
This is sad.
No winners here.
wait, I thought the conspiracy theory of the day was that Newtown never happened.
I hope they are taking this case on a contingency fee basis. That will put the risk of failure on the lawyers who sought it out.
Yeah. Kinda makes ya wonder who initiated this idea of a lawsuit in the first place? (/snark off)
Maybe the parents could sue the state of CT, or the state DemoCheat legislators. It was those entities who made it impossible for Ms Lanza from having her son Adam involuntarily committed to a hospital. SHE knew what kind of a monster he was, yet she was helpless under the current state law to do what she knew had to be done.
We know the rest of this sad story.
And good luck with anyone even THINKING of suing the sancrosant Libtard DemoCheat state. Now, on the other hand, if it had been a Republitard legistation in charge when this shooting occurred. . . . .
Who can they sue? The state? The federal government? The school system? The only person directly responsible for the shooting is dead.
That’s similar to the crap about “reparations” for slavery. Since the last known former slave died in the 1930s or so … and there haven’t been any slaveowners in America since 1865 … who in the hell are they going to sue? And who’s going to do the suing? Slaves and slaveowners are all dead. There’s nobody to sue, and nobody to do the suing.
But blame makes people feel better about themselves.
Especially in light of finding excuses to justify current behavior and trends.
I can see where this is going. The parents will sue the rifle maker, the ammo maker, and the magazine manufacturer. It’s all about the politics.
The worst part is … you’re probably right. Even though the rifle maker, the ammo maker, and the magazine manufacturer didn’t have a blessed thing to do with the slaughter at the school, they’ll be on the hook – because there isn’t anybody else the parents *can* sue.
Ain’t no “probably” about it: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/sandy-hook-families-file-wrongful-death-claim-notices/ar-BBgwQUT
No surprise there. As soon as I saw the lawsuit, my first thought was that they’d go after Bushmaster.
There is precedent, in favor of the manufacturers. Hopefully history repeats itself. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/washington/10guns.html?_r=0
The opening paragraph in the Reuters article is a little strange, making it sound as if the filing is new to all families that have filed. It’s not. There were 10 before the latest filing and the tally is now 11. Some filed recently, others filed a while ago. The filings pertain to the opening of an estate in the names of some of the children killed, with one or more of their parents approved by a probate court as administrators. It’s legally necessary in order to have proper plaintiffs for a lawsuit in a wrongful death action. The question is who the defendants will be. I dunno. Won’t be the state. It’s immune from liability, but Newtown isn’t and today is the last day to file a lawsuit. So, we should know very soon who, if anyone at all, is to be sued.
My money is on Bushmaster. If the plaintiffs can establish that their firearm was used in a murder. If the rules of evidence are applied and the defense lawyers aren’t dumber than rocks, I can’t see this suit going very far. Then again, it is the Northeast, where much stranger things happen, almost on a daily basis.
Seems their complaint is with the school system, the building wasn’t secure, there was no security on site, and “Hide in Place” doesn’t seem to be a viable strategy.
That dog won’t hunt. SCOTUS has decided manufacturers are not liable for the illegal use of their products.
Nobody said that a certain class of lawyer was all that smart. They probably figure that if they include enough defendants, the judge will let them keep a few.
And a law firm took the case.
No, a law firm INVENTED the fucking case.
They don’t have a clue who to go after. There IS no one to go after.
Sue the people of Connecticut for not demanding stricter laws soon enough? Sue the government for not ENACTING stricter laws soon enough? Sue the NRA for supporting the rights that are protected in the Constitution? Sue ME because I own a gun?
Sue their own children for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Sadly, the lawyers are already saying Bushmaster is going to be one of the defendants: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/sandy-hook-families-file-wrongful-death-claim-notices/ar-BBgwQUT
If someone intentionally ran over pedestrians with an automobile, would the car manufacturer be held liable? Why not? Their product was used to cause injury. Did anyone sue the manufacturers of the aircraft that crashed into the WTC, Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania?
I have read that they plan on suing Bushmaster. This will be a tough row to hoe as Congress passed a law shielding companies from lawsuits of this type. I’m not sure who else they can go after.
If a lawsuit or suits are filed I can not think of a better argument for tort reform making the plaintiff and the representing law firm responsible for all monies required to defend against such a frivolous lawsuit.
I’m surprised it took this long.
The only party to be held responsible is the mother, she:
1. Did not supervise her half or fully bat shitz crazy son.
2. Took him shooting.
3. Maintained an unlocked firearms container in son’s room.
4. Frequented local bars Friday and Saturday nights while the son languished at home in a misery soup of dysfunction and mental illness.
5. Provided other fuel such as access to potentially damaging medias and lack of mental healthcare.
Note: These poor parents should sue her estate and take her house and all else she had. Other than that … It is sad and nothing more.
They should sue his mother and take every penny of hers….oh wait. She’s dead too. Hmm, OK, we’ll sue the NRA ! Yeah, that’s the ticket….
I guess I should sue the hammer manufacturer. Their product smashed my finger. SOMEONE must pay!
And the winner is…Bushmaster! Congratulations to those who guessed the lawsuit’s target:
“In addition to Bushmaster, the defendants are Camfour, a firearm distributor, and Riverview Gun Sales, the East Windsor store where the gunman’s mother purchased the Bushmaster rifle in 2010.”
Source:http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/15/families-newtown-shooting-victims-sue-gunmaker-seller/?intcmp=latestnews
I think that any and every lawyer that files suits like that ought to be punched in the head with brass knuckles and tortured with a cattle prod at least twelve times a day *LEGAL DISCLAIMER* The previous statement was made as a comedic jest and IS NOT meant to be taken seriously by anyone in any way, shape, or form.
[Unfortunately] No tort lawyers were harmed in the making of this post
Infidel®™, what Shakespeare said……..
OC
My cousins survived this tragedy. I am like Jonn. The person who did it is dead. What is the point? It is not going to change the way mentally ill people are treated, at least, not. in. CT. Gun control is not the answer, either, because CT sits behind Chicago on strictness. This is going to sound cliche, but if it’s about money–money isn’t going to change a thing, is it?
My cousin who was my age was protected by the laws even though everyone knew she was a danger. She killed herself, after years of fighting the legal system. We are lucky that some of her deeds in duress did not result in any death.
I would beg them to stop dragging themselves down and try to move forward. This is nothing more than wasted time and money, ultimately. If they have surviving children, why not focus on them for the love of God!
The families are suing the gun manufacturer.
Big surprise there. Guess they couldn’t get enough out of the kid’s psychiatrist to make it worth their time.
In case you haven’t guessed, my compassion for the families went down a notch. It’s all about the money, isn’t it?
The house is going to be demolished and the woodlands allowed to fill in the empty area.
The parents should sue the State of Connecticutt for restricting Lanza’s mother from getting him involuntarily committed when she tried to do so. I see the state in this case as liable because this squeaks loudly of negligence, to me.
A manufacturer of a product is not liable for what the purchaser does with it. If you buy hair spray and accidentally set your house on fire, that doesn’t make the hair spray manufacturer responsible for what you did with it, any more than a kitchen knife manufacturer is responsible for it ifyou use your kitchen knives to murder someone.
This is just another grandstanding attempt to drag this out forevr when it should be allowed to fade away. It will draw those with morbid curiosity the way horseshit draws flies.