A bankruptcy judge in Alabama has shut down a bid by families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims for an official voice in the bankruptcy of weapons maker Remington Outdoor Co., WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. For years, Remington has been defending itself against a lawsuit over its marketing of the weapon used in that December 2012 shooting, but lawyers for the victims have said that the company’s bankruptcy could be the end of the road. A Remington-made Bushmaster Model XM15-E2S was used in the Sandy Hook school shooting, where 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in about 11 minutes. “It’s a story that is told over and over about what happened to the children at that school. My heart bleeds for them,” Judge Clifton Jessup said at a hearing yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alabama. However, in bankruptcy court, the Sandy Hook victims merely have a claim, the judge said. He turned down their request for a committee to represent people who have been suing the weapons maker during its second bankruptcy, including many that just found out Remington had filed for chapter 11 protection. Until recently, the Sandy Hook plaintiffs “were the only ones who knew what was going on,” said Melissa Larsen, lawyer for the family of a 16-year-old allegedly killed as the result of a defective Remington-made weapon. The company filed for chapter 11 protection July 27, and none of the people who have been suing it made the list of creditors filed at the start of the case, Larsen noted. Other plaintiffs’ lawyers just received the notice of the bankruptcy, which could wipe out their lawsuits, as well as the one the Sandy Hook plaintiffs have been pursuing. Remington said cash was so tight, it had to return to bankruptcy, and it can’t afford to reorganize. The chapter 11 sale process allows Remington to sell its assets free and clear of claims, including the claims from families of nine people killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. Judge Jessup authorized Remington to move ahead with plans for an auction in September, over the protests of the Sandy Hook families.
