Remington Arms has reportedly offered to pay nearly $33 million to nine families to settle lawsuits that alleged the company's marketing of firearms played a role in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre.
Reuters reported that the settlements would provide $3.66 million to relatives of each victim. Those payments would be subject to approval by a federal judge overseeing Remington’s bankruptcy case in Alabama, according to Reuters.
Josh Koskoff, the attorney representing the families of the Sandy Hook massacre in their lawsuit against Remington, issued a following statement in response to the company’s settlement offer, saying, "Since this case was filed in 2014, the families' focus has been on preventing the next Sandy Hook. An important part of that goal has been showing banks and insurers that companies that sell assault weapons to civilians are fraught with financial risk. Financial institutions like JP Morgan and Franklin Square learned that lesson when Remington went bankrupt. Ironshore and James River, two of the four insurance companies that once did business with Remington, deserve credit for now realizing that promoting the use of AR-15s as weapons of war to civilians is indefensible."
The statement continued, "Insuring this kind of conduct is an unprofitable and untenable business model. It appears that the other two insurance companies involved -- Chubb and Swiss Re -- have yet to learn that lesson and continue to stand firmly behind dangerous marketing and against the families. The families will consider their next steps,” said Josh Koskoff at Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, attorney for the families."
According to Reuters, Remington’s proposed payout is only a "small fraction of the damages" that the families say they have suffered.