WT everloving F?

When I first heard about the Sandy Hook massacre, I was attending a holiday lunch with the marketing team of one of my clients. Lunch was winding down, and I was making my way, through the bar, to the ladies room of Grafton Street (the restaurant we were at). I was stopped in my tracks by what I was seeing on the TV. What? A bunch of little kids killed? I got the same sinking feeling I had when, driving through the soybean fields of Illinois, heading to O'Hare from a customer meeting in Bloomington, we kept hearing snatches on the radio about a daycare center being blown up in Oklahoma.

Who kills little kids? Terrorists? Bad guys? Psychos? All of the above?

When I got home, I was riveted to the news. All those sweet-faced little kiddos. Murdered in cold blood.

The unimaginable pain those parents have had to endure...

Made worse, of course, by the Sandy Hook deniers, with their insane conspiracy theories claiming that the story was a hoax, the "parents" played by crisis actors.

And now, this...

Nine of the families of those killed - there were 27 in all, if you count the mother of killer Adam Lanza - are suing Remington Arms, the gunmaker of the rifle used in the shooting. Five of those families had children killed; the others are the families of the teachers murdered.

The families claim that Remington "recklessly" marketed the Bushmaster AR-15, a military-grade weapon, to civilians (like Adam Lanza's mother) who had no business owning such a gun.

Remington, of course, is counter-arguing that the weapon is perfectly legal, etc. blah-blah-blah. 

Although the company has filed for bankruptcy, they have offered to settle the suit for $33M. While the families have not yet responded to the offer - which was made in July - Remington has stepped up the pressure.

Lawyers for Remington Arms...have subpoenaed the academic, attendance and disciplinary records for five slain students...Remington also requested employment files for the educators whose families are involved in the case, according to the Hartford Courant. (Source: NPR)

WT everloving F? What can they possibly want with these records? Talk about the ultimate bad faith blame-the-victim strategy.

There is a theory that they may be trying to minimize any actuarially-based awards by pointing out that little Timmy wasn't all that bright, or that little Janie had an accident one day, so would never have made $100K a year. Or by arguing that one of those teachers - who died trying to protect the kiddos - was not a satisfactory performer, would probably have been let go, and would have ended up working at Dunkin Donuts, alongside little Timmy and little Janie, for minimum wage. Or something.

My guess is that they just want to wear the families down and out and get them to accept the $33M that's on the table. And fire a (metaphorical) warning shot across the bow of any other folks who might be thinking of filing a similar suit because their loved one was mowed down by someone sporting an assault rifle that shouldn't be in the hands of anyone who's not involved in actual military combat. (However wrong-headed that actual military combat might be, it's still a legitimate use of an assault rifle. I guess.)

This isn't the first shoddy trick that the Remington lawyers have tried to pull

In July, those lawyers produced at least some of the relevant documents requested as part of the discovery process. But also:

...handed over thousands of "random images," including Minion memes, emojis, and ice bucket challenge videos. (Source: Buzzfeed)

Of the 40,000 documents that Remington submitted, it's estimated that 34,000 were BS: 

Among them were pictures of people go-karting, videos of gender reveal parties, and images of emojis of Santa Claus, ice cream, and a farmer.

Minion memes? Gender reveal videos? What possible excuse is there for this behavior? I don't know if it's grounds for disbarment, but it ought to be.

James Vogts is the lead attorney in this case. 

[His] practice spans a variety of industries, including the chemical, large industrial machinery, and firearms industries, and he has earned a reputation for trying and winning cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts across the country. (Source: SMB)

And he's got to be a colossal POS, or the world's worst manager in terms of overseeing the junior employees - summer interns, partner wannabes, paralegals, overseas outsourcers - who pulled this crap together (and are themselves junior POSes). 

Vogts firm is in Chicago, and he's a grad of Miami (of Ohio) University and DePaul University School of Law (which is in Chicago). So much for Midwest nice.

I hope that when Vogts et al. get in front of a judge next time, that judge throws the book at them. 

Adam Lanza killed all those people at Sandy Hook, not Remington Arms. So is Remington Arms - however egregiously slimy their marketing was - liable to their deaths? 

They (and the other assault rifle manufacturers) certainly do plenty of awful, come-on ads. Here's the taglines for a few I found: One Rifle, Many Missions. Consider Your Man Card Reissued.  Forces of Opposition, Bow Down. Control Your Destiny. Bravery On Duty. 

Guess Adam Lanza figured out one of those many missions. His man card reissued, he sure got those five- and six-year old forces of oppositions to bow down. And I guess you can say that, by killing himself - unfortunately, waiting until after he slaughtered the innocents - he did control his own destiny.

But the only bravery on duty that day was the teachers trying to protect all those little kiddos.

Still need to ask whether Remington is liable for those deaths.

I dunno. 

But I do know bad behavior when I see it, and Remington and its lawyers are completely guilty of it.

WF everloving F?