A gunmaker sued in 2014 by nine Sandy Hook families has spent seven years pulling together tens of thousands of documents for discovery proceedings, claiming it was using "extensive resources" to do so. Now, in a complaint filed last week in Connecticut Superior Court, lawyers for those families allege that of the 46,000 or so documents handed over by Remington Arms, 18,465 of them were "random cartoons" (including of Santa Claus and a sliced-up Minion from Despicable Me); 15,825 were images of such things as people riding dirt bikes and go-karts; and 1,657 were videos and GIFs that included ice bucket challenges and gender reveal parties. "When the seemingly random cartoons, images, videos, [duplicate catalogs], and other items noted are accounted for, Remington, it would seem, has spent the better part of seven years producing 6,606 potentially useful documents in response to the plaintiffs' requests," the complaint notes, per the Connecticut Post.
The bizarre documents, Remington's filing for bankruptcy, and other delays are all part of a stall tactic, the families allege, as the company "is desperate to avoid a true review of the internal and external communications detailing its abusive marketing practices," per the complaint. Shooter Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15 made by Remington in the 2012 massacre, and the families allege the company's marketing of the rifle to civilians was wrong. The complaint adds that "Remington has treated discovery as a game" and that "there is no possible reasonable explanation for this conduct." A Remington lead attorney tells the Post that the company "will respond to this motion in the coming weeks, and point out what it believes are incorrect representations, numerous half-truths, and important omissions by (families') counsel." Jury selection for the case, which is headed back to trial court after being turned down by the US Supreme Court, is set for September. (More Sandy Hook stories.)