Ahead of today's status conference in court, the families suing Remington Arms over the shooting at Sandy Hook School have streamlined their wrongful death case.  Hearst Connecticut Media reports that the complaint filed yesterday now focuses on the  gunmaker’s marketing and the claim that it violated Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act. 

The complaint no longer includes the argument that tried to exploit a loophole in a federal law that shields the gun industry from most liability when its weapons are misused.  The new complaint calls Remington’s AR-15 marketing “unethical, immoral, unscrupulous, oppressive, and reckless.” 

The argument that Remington negligently entrusted a military weapon to the civilian market was stuck down in 2016 by Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis, who dismissed the families’ lawsuit.  The state Supreme Court affirmed Bellis’ negligent entrustment decision, but reversed the dismissal on the CUTPA claim.  The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Remington’s appeal of the Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling. 

The case was returned to Bellis in state Superior Court.  A 2021 trial is planned.