USA: Lawyer for Sandy Hook shooting victims accuses Remington Arms of using bankruptcy case to wipe out lawsuit
"Sandy Hook families: Gun maker trying to wipe out lawsuit", 18 August 2020.
A lawyer for some of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims’ families accused Remington Arms on Tuesday of using its new bankruptcy case to try to wipe out their lawsuit over how the company marketed the rifle used in the massacre.
An attorney for Remington denied the allegation during a phone conference call presided over by a federal bankruptcy court judge in Decatur, Alabama.
Also Tuesday, the judge, Clifton Jessup Jr., denied the families’ request to create a committee — comprised of people who are suing Remington over the use of its products — that would have a say in the bankruptcy proceedings.
David Elsberg, a lawyer for the families, said Remington is trying to rush an auction of its holdings, leave the families out of the process and has not included their lawsuit or other lawsuits over its products in the new bankruptcy case it filed late last month...
It’s the company’s second bankruptcy filing in two years...
A survivor and relatives of nine victims of the shooting are suing Remington in Connecticut Superior Court...The lawsuit has been put on hold because of the bankruptcy case. Remington denies the lawsuit’s allegations and says it is immune from being sued under federal law.
Jessup on Tuesday approved a schedule for the Sept. 17 auction that allows the Sandy Hook families and others to object to the sale by Sept. 1. He dismissed the families’ objection to the schedule.
Nancy Mitchell, a lawyer for Remington, told the judge that Elsberg’s comments about the company trying to rush the process and exclude the families were not true...