Victims’ families had sued the maker of the AR-15-style weapon used in the attack at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
The families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., have reached a settlement in their lawsuit against the maker of the AR-15-style weapon used in the attack.
Remington, which made the weapon, had proposed settling with the families for $33 million as a trial date loomed. Court documents filed on Tuesday morning did not specify the amount of the settlement, but a lawyer for the families said in a statement that the settlement was for $73 million.
Twenty schoolchildren and six adults were killed when a 20-year-old man stormed into the elementary school and set off a spray of gunfire.
The agreement represents a blow to the firearm industry because the lawsuit employed a novel strategy aimed at piercing the vast shield enshrined in federal law protecting gun companies from litigation.
Still, the settlement is unlikely to open the floodgates to more settlements and successful legal efforts, since the Sandy Hook families relied upon a narrow exception in the law.
But it does represent an unusual outcome because the case has managed to move forward even as those federal protections have thwarted other lawsuits brought by families of people killed in other mass shootings.
Kristin Hussey contributed reporting, and Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
