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American gun manufacturer Remington is facing controversy after lawyers representing nine families of the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy discovered 18,000 random cartoons and 15,000 images of people dirt-biking and go-kart racing in pretrial data.
The nine families are fighting to have Remington held accountable due to one of the company's AR-15 rifles being used in the mass shooting at the elementary school by 20-year-old Adam Lanza. The families' lawyers took issue with the court documents filed last week at Superior Court in Waterbury, Connecticut.
"Having repeatedly represented to the families and this court that it was devoting extensive resources to making what it described as 'substantial' document productions...Remington has instead made the plaintiffs wait years to receive cartoon images, gender reveal videos and duplicate copies of catalogs. There is no possible reasonable explanation for this conduct," they said in the docs.
James Vogts, the head attorney representing Remington in court, told the Connecticut Post, "Remington will respond to this motion in the coming weeks, and point out what it believes are incorrect representations, numerous half-truths, and important omissions by families' counsel."
The families' attorneys also released a statement:
"Remington's...effort to lard its document production with cartoons and duplicate catalogues sends a strong message about the real motive here. Remington is desperate to avoid a true review of the internal and external communications detailing its abusive marketing practices."
In 2020, Remington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but the judge preceding the case allowed the nine families of the Sandy Hook tragedy to have their day in court to hear both sides of their argument.
"The Sandy Hook families suspect...that Remington's financial position has in fact been improving, and that a desire to avoid continuing costs associated with litigating the Sandy Hook wrongful death action, as well as the potentially significant liability associated therewith, were major factors motivating the commencement of these cases," an attorney for the Sandy Hook families stated in an Alabama courtroom. "Discovery will allow the Sandy Hook families to test these vague assertions of financial need and provide the court with the full picture of Remington's financial picture."
Remington has stated on numerous occasions that the AR-15 rifle was legally sold to Nancy Lanza, Adam Lanza's mother, who left it in an unlocked closet at her home. Adam Lanza murdered 26 first-graders and faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Jury selection for the case involving both parties is set to take place in September. The Connecticut Supreme Court reinstated the case after being shunned by Connecticut's Superior Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
