Remington acquitted of child’s death due to defective rifle trigger

A divided three-judge appeals court on Monday upheld a trial court’s decision to toss out a lawsuit against Remington Arms over a defective trigger on its model rifle that caused the accidental death of an 11-year-old boy who was shot by the gun his 15-year-old brother was holding. of Mississippi State.

By a two-to-one vote, the federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said the appeal by the family of the victim, Justin Striger, was properly dismissed because of the three-year statute of limitations under Mississippi law.

The family argued that the case should not have been barred because Remington knew her trigger was defective but fraudulently concealed it.

Remington and a lawyer representing the Strieger family did not immediately respond when Reuters asked them to comment on the appeals court decision.

THE Justin Strieger fatally injured in an accident in June 2011. Model 700 rifle equipped with an X-Mark Pro trigger accidentally fired.

Zachary, the older brother, was holding the rifle while sitting on the couch, and when he stood up the gun went off without the trigger being pulled.

Zachary Strieger was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison.

In 2014, while he was serving his sentence, Remington announced that it would be withdrawing all rifles of the type that were equipped with this particular trigger, because there was a risk that they would fire without being pulled.

The Strieger family filed a lawsuit in March 2018 against the company. They accused Remington of negligence and of marketing a dangerous product.

But appellant James Graves, one of the two who voted in the majority, argued yesterday that three years had passed by the time the family went to court, calling the family’s claim that the gunmaker knew its trigger was defective “hypothetical.”

Jack Winer, the dissenting appellant, countered that there was evidence, such as allegations that Remington had received complaints from customers about the Model 700 trigger as early as 2008, that supported the family’s appeal.

RES-EMP

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