Reply #13: I like this one... [View All]

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What's a poor gun-grabber to do? :)


"Court Allows Grunow Lawsuit to Go Forward Case Will Go to Trial Later This Year

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 Mr. Grunow in his classroom in Lake Worth, Florida 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, Florida, 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 Mr. Grunow. The Grunow family has already voluntarily resolved claims against Elmore McCray and a pawnshop that sold the gun".

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"SAF APPLAUDS FLORIDA JUDGE FOR SETTING ASIDE GUN VERDICT

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) today applauded Palm beach County Circuit
Judge Jorge Labarga for setting aside the outrageous $1.2 million verdict against the Valor Corporation for distributing the firearm used by 13-year-old Nathaniel Brazill to murder his teacher over two years ago.

"Judge Labarga has allowed common sense and the rule of law to prevail over emotion," observed SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "The Valor verdict defied logic by holding the Valor Corporation responsible for the willful act of a
young thug. Nathaniel Brazill, who stole the pistol used to gun down Lake Worth Middle School teacher Barry Grunow, is solely responsible for that crime, and not the distributor." Grunow's widow, Pamela, represented by lawyers from the anti-gun Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, had sued Valor, claiming that the distributor could have made the .25-caliber Raven semiautomatic pistol safer by
installing some type of locking device. Because the jury ruled that the pistol was not defective, Judge Labarga ruled their monetary award to Grunow to be inconsistent with that finding.

"Once again, the Brady Center's attempts to hold the firearms industry responsible for the vicious acts of criminals, regardless of their age, have been thwarted," Gottlieb noted. "Valor distributed a product that was not defective. Installation of a trigger lock or some other device may or may not have prevented the young killer from using that particular gun, but it would likely not have stopped him from committing the murder.

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