Month: February 2022

Gunmaker Remington has agreed to pay more than $70 million to settle a lawsuit with families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 young children and 6 adults almost a decade ago. Court documents filed on Tuesday show that the company agreed to pay $73 million to settle the case, which stems from the assault-style rifle used in the attack — a Remington Bushmaster XM15-E2S AR-15.  The settlement makes history as the first time a gun manufacturer will face liability following a mass shooting in the United States.

The landmark victory comes after a protracted legal battle over how Remington marketed its Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, which was used in the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The gunman, Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother before the elementary school rampage, then killed himself.

The lawsuit made its way through the state Supreme Court after Remington argued it should be shielded under a federal law designed to prevent gun manufacturers from being held liable for crimes in which their guns were used. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would allow the suit to go forward. Last July, attorneys for Remington offered nearly $33 million to settle the suit.

In their lawsuit against Remington, which has since filed for bankruptcy, families of the victims argued that the gun maker irresponsibly marketed the weapon to at-risk young men such as the Sandy Hook shooter through product placement in violent video games. As part of the settlement, the families are also allowed to release materials related to how Remington marketed the rifle. Remington, based in Madison, North Carolina, has denied the allegations.

Editoral credit: Ron Frank / Shutterstock.com

According to documents filed Tuesday in New York, Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre have reached an out-of-court settlement in her sexual assault lawsuit against him.  The two parties will file a dismissal upon Giuffre’s receipt of the settlement, the amount of which is not being disclosed. Giuffre alleges she was trafficked by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions when she was 17.  The 61-year-old Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.  Representatives in the United Kingdom for Prince Andrew had no comment after news of the settlement was made public.

The settlement documents stated:  “Prince Andrew intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights. Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks. It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years. Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others. He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”  

Prince Andrew’s attorneys had argued back in January to dismiss the lawsuit, after it was revealed that Epstein had reached a $500,000 settlement with Giuffre, in which she agreed not to sue any other “potential defendant.” Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York refused to grant the royal’s motion to dismiss.

Buckingham Palace released a statement on January 13 regarding Andrew’s royal status, saying he was stripped of his military affiliations and royal patronages. They announced at the time: “With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”  It is said that Prince Andrew will likely retain his title as the Duke of York and keep his place in the line of succession to the throne, which is currently ninth behind Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s two children. However, he will no longer use the style “His Royal Highness” in any official capacity.

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One body has been found in the search for a plane with eight passengers that crashed Sunday, Feb. 13, east of Drum Inlet on the Outer Banks. The U.S. Coast Guard do not believe there were any survivors.

On Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that crews are searching for a plane with eight people aboard that crashed Sunday off the coast of North Carolina. The Coast Guard said in the statement that the Pilatus PC-12 single engine passenger airplane crashed approximately 4 miles east of Drum Inlet, N.C., on Sunday. The continues for the other seven passengers and plane. There are three debris field associated with the crash — some as far as 15 miles offshore — but the fuselage has not been found.

Four of the eight people aboard were believed to be teenagers, and the group was said to be on their way back from a hunting trip.   The Coast Guard statement said that the aircraft was last seen “behaving erratically on radar,” according to an air traffic controller at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point’s report to the Coast Guard in North Carolina.

Editorial credit: Michael Fitzsimmons / Shutterstock.com

On Monday, a federal judge in New York said he will dismiss a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times filed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff said that Palin’s lawyers did not prove the publication knowingly wrote false or reckless information in the 2017 editorial at the center of the lawsuit.

Palin sued the Times over a 2017 editorial that falsely suggested there was a link between her political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting spree that left former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. injured, and six other people dead. Palin testified last week that the editorial in question was “devastating” when it was published.  The Times corrected the information in the editorial the morning after it was published. It has not lost a defamation case in a U.S. courtroom in at least 50 years.

However, Judge Rakoff said Palin’s lawyers did not meet the ​​legal threshold required to prove defamation. He said he will let the jury continue to deliberate. If it returns a verdict that finds the Times did not defame Palin, Rakoff would then accept the verdict. If the jury comes to the opposite conclusion, the judge would then set aside that verdict and enter his own in favor of the publication.

Editorial credit: Andrew F. Kazmierski / Shutterstock.com