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Court Allows Grunow Lawsuit to Go Forward
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Court Allows Grunow Lawsuit to Go Forward; Case Will Go to Trial
Later This Year
To: State Desk
Contact: Amy Stilwell of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence,
202-289-7319
WASHINGTON, May 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The widow of schoolteacher
Barry Grunow has won an important victory in her lawsuit against
the distributor that supplied the semi-automatic pistol used by
seventh-grader Nathaniel Brazill to shoot and kill Grunow in his
classroom in Lake Worth, Fla., in May 2000.
Pamela Grunow is seeking to hold the distributor, Valor
Corporation of Florida, responsible for selling an unreasonably
dangerous and defective product.
In a decision dated May 10, 2002, Judge Jorge Labarga of the
Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial District, in Palm Beach
County, Fla., ruled that Mrs. Grunow has presented sufficient
evidence to entitle her to present her claims against Valor to a
jury. The trial is expected to begin in October or November of this
year.
"Gun sellers should have foreseen that a juvenile would gain
access to this gun," said Allen Rostron, attorney for the Legal
Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which
serves as co-counsel for the Grunow family. "Guns can be made to
protect against their unauthorized use by children and teenagers.
These businesses have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to
prevent the products they sell from being used to cause harm."
On May 26, 2000, the last day of the school year at Lake Worth
Middle School, 13-year-old student Nathaniel Brazill shot and
killed language arts teacher Barry Grunow. A few days before the
shooting, Brazill had taken the gun and ammunition from an unlocked
dresser in the home of Elmore McCray, a close family friend.
Brazill has been convicted of second-degree murder for killing
Grunow. The Grunow family has already voluntarily resolved claims
against Elmore McCray and a pawnshop that sold the gun.
The gun used to kill Grunow was a .25 caliber semi-automatic
pistol manufactured by Raven Arms, Inc., a now-defunct California
gun manufacturer. The Raven .25 is commonly known as a junk gun, or
"Saturday Night Special," characterized by its small size, easy
concealability and relatively inexpensive cost. Such handguns have
little or no sporting or self-defense use and are
disproportionately used by criminals and juveniles to commit murder
and other violent offenses.
Furthermore, the Raven .25 lacks any safety devices that would
prevent an unauthorized user like Nathaniel Brazill from firing it.
Gun manufacturers have long known that guns fall into the hands of
children and others who should not have access to them and that
tragic shootings, whether accidental or intentional, often result.
Despite having the ability to design weapons that will fire only in
the hands of authorized users, gun manufacturers have refused to do
so. Under Florida law, a distributor or dealer who sells a
defectively designed product can be held liable just as the
manufacturer can be held liable.
Bob Montgomery of the law firm of Montgomery & Larson and Edna
L. Caruso of the law firm of Caruso, Burlington, Bohn, &
Companiani, P.A. is representing the Grunow family. Attorneys from
the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun
Violence are co-counsel.
"I promise you that a verdict against the distributors and
sellers of 'Saturday Night Special' guns that have as their sole
purpose to kill and maim, will go a long way towards making the
streets safe again for Florida's citizens, and, particularly, its
children," said Bob Montgomery.
Montgomery is well-known for his groundbreaking litigation on
behalf of the people of Florida. He represented the state of
Florida in its lawsuit against the tobacco industry, resulting in
a landmark $11.3 billion settlement. His work representing patients
who contracted AIDS from their dentist put the medical community on
notice of the need for reforms to prevent HIV transmission.
Since 1989, the Brady Center's Legal Action Project has
pioneered innovative theories of gun industry liability by
representing pro bono victims of gun violence. In addition to
representing individual victims and their families, the Legal
Action Project is co-counsel for most of the cities and counties
that have filed lawsuits against the gun industry, including
Detroit, New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and
Washington, D.C.
http://www.usnewswire.com
-0-
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
05/14 17:30
Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/first/0514-147.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Later This Year
To: State Desk
Contact: Amy Stilwell of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence,
202-289-7319
WASHINGTON, May 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The widow of schoolteacher
Barry Grunow has won an important victory in her lawsuit against
the distributor that supplied the semi-automatic pistol used by
seventh-grader Nathaniel Brazill to shoot and kill Grunow in his
classroom in Lake Worth, Fla., in May 2000.
Pamela Grunow is seeking to hold the distributor, Valor
Corporation of Florida, responsible for selling an unreasonably
dangerous and defective product.
In a decision dated May 10, 2002, Judge Jorge Labarga of the
Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial District, in Palm Beach
County, Fla., ruled that Mrs. Grunow has presented sufficient
evidence to entitle her to present her claims against Valor to a
jury. The trial is expected to begin in October or November of this
year.
"Gun sellers should have foreseen that a juvenile would gain
access to this gun," said Allen Rostron, attorney for the Legal
Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which
serves as co-counsel for the Grunow family. "Guns can be made to
protect against their unauthorized use by children and teenagers.
These businesses have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to
prevent the products they sell from being used to cause harm."
On May 26, 2000, the last day of the school year at Lake Worth
Middle School, 13-year-old student Nathaniel Brazill shot and
killed language arts teacher Barry Grunow. A few days before the
shooting, Brazill had taken the gun and ammunition from an unlocked
dresser in the home of Elmore McCray, a close family friend.
Brazill has been convicted of second-degree murder for killing
Grunow. The Grunow family has already voluntarily resolved claims
against Elmore McCray and a pawnshop that sold the gun.
The gun used to kill Grunow was a .25 caliber semi-automatic
pistol manufactured by Raven Arms, Inc., a now-defunct California
gun manufacturer. The Raven .25 is commonly known as a junk gun, or
"Saturday Night Special," characterized by its small size, easy
concealability and relatively inexpensive cost. Such handguns have
little or no sporting or self-defense use and are
disproportionately used by criminals and juveniles to commit murder
and other violent offenses.
Furthermore, the Raven .25 lacks any safety devices that would
prevent an unauthorized user like Nathaniel Brazill from firing it.
Gun manufacturers have long known that guns fall into the hands of
children and others who should not have access to them and that
tragic shootings, whether accidental or intentional, often result.
Despite having the ability to design weapons that will fire only in
the hands of authorized users, gun manufacturers have refused to do
so. Under Florida law, a distributor or dealer who sells a
defectively designed product can be held liable just as the
manufacturer can be held liable.
Bob Montgomery of the law firm of Montgomery & Larson and Edna
L. Caruso of the law firm of Caruso, Burlington, Bohn, &
Companiani, P.A. is representing the Grunow family. Attorneys from
the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun
Violence are co-counsel.
"I promise you that a verdict against the distributors and
sellers of 'Saturday Night Special' guns that have as their sole
purpose to kill and maim, will go a long way towards making the
streets safe again for Florida's citizens, and, particularly, its
children," said Bob Montgomery.
Montgomery is well-known for his groundbreaking litigation on
behalf of the people of Florida. He represented the state of
Florida in its lawsuit against the tobacco industry, resulting in
a landmark $11.3 billion settlement. His work representing patients
who contracted AIDS from their dentist put the medical community on
notice of the need for reforms to prevent HIV transmission.
Since 1989, the Brady Center's Legal Action Project has
pioneered innovative theories of gun industry liability by
representing pro bono victims of gun violence. In addition to
representing individual victims and their families, the Legal
Action Project is co-counsel for most of the cities and counties
that have filed lawsuits against the gun industry, including
Detroit, New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and
Washington, D.C.
http://www.usnewswire.com
-0-
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
05/14 17:30
Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/first/0514-147.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
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Mudge the cynic
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When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....