Yet another family in Montana has filed a suit against gun manufacturer Remington in connection with injury or death from the Model 600 Mohawk Rifle. The products liability suit claims that a woman was shot in the foot during a hunting outing in 2007, according to legal documents filed earlier this month.
The suit claims that the woman was injured when her friend was unloading the rifle. The hunting party had assumed that the hunter somehow accidentally hit the trigger when cycling through the bolt, but that opinion changed when the hunter’s husband saw a show about the gun’s propensity for misfiring.
The victim in this case had her big toe amputated as a result of the accident.
Attorneys in the case say that Remington bolt action guns tend to discharge even if the trigger is not pulled. This malfunction has caused countless injuries during the decades that the guns have been in production. Information from the television show provided the couple with new information, which caused them to re-evaluate the accident. They eventually concluded that the hunter had used the gun correctly, but it had misfired, causing the accident.
During the years between 1992 and 2004, Remington reportedly received more than 3,000 customer complaints about the gun’s likelihood for accidental discharge. That works out to about five unintended firings each week. Attorneys say that even more unintended firings have remained unreported.
This case joins others that have been filed during recent years against the gun manufacturer, including a pending federal court case against Remington in connection with the death of a 9-year-old boy. A Belgrade man is seeking civil compensation in that case, which involved a Remington Model 700 rifle.
Claimants in multiple suits have alleged that Remington was aware of the trigger malfunctions and failed to fix problems to protect user safety. Attorneys say that substantial evidence exists to suggest that the problems were overlooked in favor of production and profitability.
Source: The Independent Record, “Family files lawsuit against Remington over 2007 hunting accident,” Eve Byron, Oct. 15, 2012