Sandy Hook Families Left Off Creditor List in Remington Case

A group of Sandy Hook school shooting victims’ families failed in an attempt to be included in Remington Outdoor Co. Inc.'s list of its largest unsecured creditors despite its argument that its claims would be larger than others in the gunmaker’s bankruptcy case.

The Alabama Bankruptcy Administrator is using the list to form the unsecured creditors committee, which would advocate for creditors’ interests in the case.

“The interests of the Sandy Hook Families needs to be considered by the unsecured creditors committee, but that doesn’t mean they have to be on the committee,” Judge Clifton R. Jessup Jr. of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama said Thursday at a telephonic hearing, affirming that Remington doesn’t have to amend its list of 40 largest creditors.

“In fast moving cases like this it’s common for parties to jockey for position early in the case,” he said.

Still, the judge didn’t rule out the possibility of the family group joining the committee later. The bankruptcy code allows adding members after the committee is formed, Jessup said.

The judge said he’d hear any such request by the families “expeditiously.”

Remington is facing a wrongful death suit from a group of nine families who lost members in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which the company’s Bushmaster AR-15 rifle was used to kill 20 children and six educators.

The families said in a Wednesday court filing that they will be irreparably injured if they can’t participate in the committee.

The potential liability for their claims would dwarf the other claims on the list, according to the family group’s filing Wednesday in the Alabama court. The families didn’t specify the amount of their claims.

Jessup held the virtual status conference Thursday in response to the families’ request to ensure their rights are protected in the Chapter 11 case.

Remington filed Chapter 11 July 27 with a plan to sell the company, despite shedding more than $775 million of debt in its prior bankruptcy.

The court will hear a sale bid procedures motion and other administrative matters Aug. 11.

The case is In re Remington Outdoor Co., Inc., Bankr. N.D. Ala., No. 20-81688, objection filed 8/5/20.