More documents are coming out in connection with a Remington Arms Company products liability case, according to information out of Butte this week. Earlier in the month, a district court in the region had decided to release formerly sealed documents in connection with the Aleksich v. Remington case, which involves an incident where a teenager was wounded using the Model 700 rifle.
We have previously discussed this particular products liability situation, as several people throughout the nation have been injured or killed due to misfires attributed to the Model 700 firearm.
A Manhattan man was in Butte recently researching the case along with a series of other incidents throughout the nation. He has been looking into other products liability cases associated with the Model 700 after his son was killed when one of the guns malfunctioned. While he was researching a case in Arizona, the man thinks he found the key piece of evidence in the civil case against the gun manufacturer.
Evidently, some of the rifles had been returned to the company because of misfiring complaints during the late 1980s and early 1990s. A memo was circulated throughout the Remington company describing the situation. As of Jan. 25, 1990, more than 28 rifles had been returned during the calendar year, comprising more than one firearm each day.
A PowerPoint presentation created by the company was also unearthed during the man’s research. He says the company knew that the firing mechanism was faulty, thanks to information found in the presentation, but they chose not to fix the problem. The presentation dates back to 1995, and it is dated March 28, the same day that the other liability case was settled out of court.
The man thinks that the newly released information will allow him to educate gun users about the potential dangers of using Remington products. He hopes that the information will allow him to prevent injuries and deaths caused by the faulty rifles.
Source: KLXF4, “UPDATE: More documents revealed in Remington liability case,” Jamie Leary, Sept. 7, 2012