Posted on 11/14/2002 2:37:03 PM PST by correctthought
BREAKING NEWS: Gun Company Must Pay Teacher's Widow Posted: 5:02 p.m. EST November 14, 2002 Updated: 5:31 p.m. EST November 14, 2002
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. -- A jury has awarded the widow of teacher Barry Grunow $1.2 million from a gun distributor. Pam Grunow's lawsuit accused Valor Corp of distributing a gun that was "unsafe, defective and lacked features that would have prevented a minor from using it."
The case stems from the murder of teacher Barry Grunow by one of his students. Nathaniel Brazill shot Grunow to death two years ago in a West Palm Beach classroom.
Pam Grunow's lawyer asked for $76 million. But the jury found gun distributor Valor Corporation 5 percent liable for Grunow's death. The owner of the gun and the school board held the most of the liability, the jury found.
The jury didn't find any liability for Nathanial Brazill, who pulled the trigger. Brazill stole the unloaded gun and bullets from a cookie tin stashed away in a dresser drawer of family friend Elmore McCray.
The jury said Grunow's family should get $24 million from the three parties. The school board was told to pay her $10.8 million, and the family friend was told to pay $12 million.
This is the first lawsuit in the country in which a gun company has in any way been held responsible in a murder.
Maybe you should have been the lawyer defending the gun maker. Their lawyer isn't worth two beans if he or she didn't make this very obvious point to the jury!
Will prosecutors use this same argument against Malvo the Underage Sniper?
The jury, ah the jury.
They that dwell in liberal fury....
I can just imagine how the jury was chosen. "Do you agree that handguns should be outlawed, that the 2nd amendment is outdated, and that the federal government is the organization best suited to run airport security? Good, you're in."
I sure hope those who are saying this will be overturned on appeal are correct; this is obscene as it stands!
A previous post of the same article was "pulled".
My guess is that too many FReepers came up with comments that accurately described the mental capabilities of that particular set of jurors...
That's why EVERY manufacturer must unite now to demand total tort reform at the federal level.
Will a glut of lawsuits against Anheuser-Busch follow - with greedy trial lawyers and DUI widows seeking to get rich? Or will they sue the carmaker that made the drunk driver's car?
Will a glut of lawsuits by other leftists against other industries they hate - say, econazis against carmakers over pollution - clog U.S. courts over alleged health costs of air pollution?
Scandals of antigun politicians and activists - coast to coast!
You have Katana? Is that one of those edges that you don't want to rest on bare skin?
If I were a gun manufacturer, I would immediately declare that any guns made by my company that are being used for law enforcement purposes are hereby recalled and deemed defective.
Watch a lawyer cream himself the first time any such declared weapon is discharged in the public arena. It's time to use the courts against themselves.
My guess is no Financial responsibility in the settlement, but I even agree with that.
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