Remington Arms Co. has been manufacturing the model 700 series rifle for more than half a century. It has caused a number of injuries and deaths from inadvertent firing. Despite this, for the last fifty years it has been the most popular mainstream hunting rifle in the United States.
As these rifles get older, the risk of injury worsens. The defect is in the trigger design, which is inherently unstable. In 1975 Remington identified a number of different circumstances in which inadvertent firing could occur: 1) firing "FSR" (fires when safe is released), "JO" (jars off), the hammer fails to stay engaged with the sear and falls down when the gun is jarred), "FD" (falls down, cocking piece fails to properly engage with the sear), "FOS" (fires on safe–gun fires with safe in on position when trigger is pulled), and "SWW" (safety won't work).
The "inadvertent firings" have been unpredictable, and Remington has never conducted a nationwide recall of the Model 700 nor has it acknowledged that its Model 700 trigger design is unsafe. In the last few years Remington has offered both a trigger modification for older 700s and a different trigger as an option on new 700s, but at least until recently it has continued to offer the hazardous old trigger on new 700s for sale.
In the Brandenburger case, Montana adopted a national standard (Restatement of Torts 2d, §402A), for liability resulting from harm caused by defective and unreasonably dangerous products. This standard was codified in section 27-1-719, MCA, which states:
A person who sells a product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to a user or consumer or to the property of a user or consumer is liable for physical harm caused by the product to the ultimate user or consumer or to his property if:
(a) the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product; and
(b) the product is expected to and does reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold.
Products liability cases are controversial across the nation. This lawyer's perspective, widely shared in the legal profession, is that business entities that produce defective and dangerous products must accept responsibility for injuries when those products cause injury. Strict liability for injuries caused by defective and unreasonably dangerously products has been responsible for many of the improvements in American life. The safety of goods for sale to the public is no longer an extra benefit, but an expectation everyone has from modern civilization. America has been the leader in world commerce in large part because of a legal system that has proved that safety is inexpensive and good business.
But now in the 21st century corporate America, which dominates the world of employment and finance, fights the need for corporate responsibility. "Tort reform," which creates barricades to the courthouse door and barriers to the judicial process, remains on the rise.
Remington Arms has sold many millions of dollars worth of the model 700 series rifle, its main hunting rifle. It has known about the trigger defect throughout all the years that the weapon has been on the market, and, in fact, the original designer of the trigger suggested an alternative design for it in the 1940's before the gun was even placed on the market. The alternative was rejected. Profit came ahead of safety, and lives have been damaged or lost as a result. CNBC recently did a special broadcast of the dangers of the 700's trigger problem and the injuries and deaths it has caused.
For further information about the Remington matter or products liability cases in general, contact Howard Toole Law Offices, (406) 728-4682 or howardtoolelaw@yahoo.com.
