Even if the defendants did not have immunity under the federal or state statutes, the Phillipses never showed any of the online stores knew or reasonably should have known about Holmes’ potential criminal acts or misuse, the judge said.
Additionally, the plaintiffs never alleged any individual defendant had knowledge of Holmes’ other online purchases or the firearms he bought offline, the judge said.
“There can be no question that Holmes’s deliberate, premeditated criminal acts were the predominant cause of plaintiffs’ daughter’s death,” Judge Matsch wrote, but “[n]either the Web nor the face-to-face sales of ammunition and other products to Holmes can plausibly constitute a substantial factor causing the deaths and injuries in this theater shooting.”
via Parents lost daughter to mass shooter, now owe $220,000 to his suppliers | Thomson Reuters Blog.
These type of lawsuits have not progressed for a long while now. But they still pop now and then because the silly idea that they can wear out the target on both effort and money…. that is if you have the money to initially spend and you don’t get nailed with having to pay the costs of the defendant in case you lose, which is what happened here.
Sandy and Lonnie Phillips decided to be the faces on the lawsuit brought forth by the Brady Campaign and now are stuck with almost a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of payments to make against Lucky Gunner and Sportsman Guide. The question that I ask is, Weren’t they told of the very likely consequences of this lawsuit? Or if they did,, did the lawyers from the Brady Campaign downplayed the danger of losing and having to pay for legal fees and costs under Colorado law?
I don’t know if there are grounds for legal malpractice, but if the Brady Campaign washes its hands from this, they surely are committing moral malpractice in mu humble opinion: they cannot just entice somebody to be the face of a lawsuit and then go “Ooops! My bad” when it collapses and there is a nasty bite back.
These people: I dont want to take personal responsibility even though I knew this could happen going in.
If their lawyers failed to tell them their low odds and the potential cost, they suck too.
[…] https://gunfreezone.net/index.php/2015/04/24/you-need-a-lawyer-to-keep-an-eye-on-your-lawye… […]
This seems to be a “feature not a bug” type of situation. This isn’t the first time the Brady Campaign has lost a lawsuit like this.
And every time they try again, their credibility is damaged even more than it is now.
They have become a cheap joke* of what they used to be.
——
* – Or worse than that: a footnote to a cheap joke.
Who’s read the order? Is the family really-and-truly on the hook for the judgment, or are the Bradys and their lawyers liable for the loss, too?
The only source for the order that I have found thus far, Thomson Reuter’s Westlaw, requires registration. However, the Thomson Reuter blog clearly states:
Loser pays the winner’s legal fees exits in a number of statues. The idea is that it will cut down on frivolous lawsuits. This has been a part of medical malpractice law in many states for a long time.
The order is here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/260723111/Order-Dismissing-Lucky-Gunner-Lawsuit
If the Bradys leave these people holding the bag, NRA members should crowd fund the bill.
It would be a good thing to do for these grieving parents. And it could be used in a low key way as good press.
I’ve got $20.
Nah. Just like Michael Brown’s parents and Trayvon Martin’s parents. my sympathy for them ended when they tried to use their child’s death as a tool to get bucks. Let ’em lose their house and their retirement accounts. Maybe it’ll help end future bloody-shirt lawsuits of this sort.
+1 I had the same thought at first, they l I st their daughter, and now they will likely lose their life savings.
But still, even grief is no excuse for making a deal with the devil. They chose to blame an ammo vendor for the death when the killer was there for their inspection.
Plus all their political grand standing with the Brady Camp.
Let them pay, and let the Brady Camp bail them out, since they brought them (and the Sandy Hook families who are suing bushmaster) to these idiotic lawsuits that No legal expert has ever said had even a slim chance of winning.
Bloomberg may use this as a chance to “white knight” these folks, as long as there is a chance for really big publicity & ect.
Otherwise, they’re just cannon fodder.
Sorry, as soon as they attack my inalienable rights via legal attrition tactics, they are an enemy of freedom. I’m sorry for their loss, but it was the act of a homicidal sub-human SOB, not the firearm.
[…] No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money, we find out that Lonnie Phillips who sued Lucky Gunner and Cheaper than Dirt for selling ammunition and other stuff to the Aurora Killer, lost and is now forced to pay for the […]