Press Release  AG Healey Calls for Reversal of Lower Court’s Approval of Remington’s Class Action Rifle Settlement

St. Louis — Looking to hold Remington responsible for the harm caused by the defective triggers on many of its rifles, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey today announced that her office is leading a coalition of 14 attorneys general in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to overturn a class action settlement arranged by the gun manufacturer.

As reported by 60 Minutes and CNBC, more than 7.5 million Remington rifles are prone to accidentally fire without a trigger pull, a defect that already has resulted in numerous deaths and other serious bodily injuries. Despite these ongoing risks, under the settlement, fewer than 25,000 of the defective guns are expected to be repaired.

In an amicus brief led by Massachusetts, the attorneys general criticize the settlement with Remington because it unfairly terminates valuable legal claims for the rifle owners while leaving consumers and the public at ongoing risk of death or injury.

Although Remington acknowledges that there is a simple replacement for the defective triggers, more than 7.4 million guns will remain unrepaired because many owners were not given legally required notice of the settlement. Even when notice was received, owners were not properly warned of the serious and ongoing risk that their guns can unexpectedly fire without a trigger pull.

Documents show that Remington has been aware of the defect for decades and has declined to fix it, for reasons that include potential exposure to personal injury liability and the cost of alternative trigger designs. In the intervening time period, there have been hundreds of reports of personal injuries, including deaths, as well as of significant property damage.

The brief was led by Massachusetts and joined by attorneys general from California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington.

The amicus brief is available here. Many of Remington’s relevant and publicly available corporate documents can be found here.

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