US gun manufacturer pays families of shooting victims
Publish date: 16 September 2004
Issue Number: 1176
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: General
A gun manufacturer and dealer who supplied the weapons used by two Washington snipers have reached a landmark settlement with the families of the shooters victims.
The New York Times reports this is the first time a gun manufacturer has paid damages for negligence leading to the criminal use of a gun. There have been other settlements of lawsuits against gun makers, but they were in cases where the gun was found to be defective and not those in which the manufacturer failed to exercise care in making sure the dealer was not supplying the gun to criminals. The eight families will be paid $2.5m in the deal. Full report in the New York Times
