January 27, 2003

A celebrated $1.2 million jury verdict against sporting goods distributor Valor Corporation was set aside today by Palm Beach County, Florida judge Jorge Labarga. Valor's attorney John Renzulli said, "Today's decision, while welcomed, is not unexpected. The verdict could not stand because it was simply inconsistent with the law of Florida and every other state in the country."

The jury in November found Valor "negligent" in the shooting death of Lake Worth, Florida middle school teacher Barry Grunow who was shot and killed by then 13-year old Nathaniel Brazill. Brazill had stolen an unloaded handgun and ammunition from the home of a family friend and was later tried and convicted of second-degree murder. In the civil case the jury found that the handgun was not unreasonably dangerous nor defectively designed, but found that Valor was somehow negligent for not supplying "feasible safety measures" with the firearm when they sold it to a dealer ten years before Brazill used the stolen firearm to murder Grunow in May 2000.

Using the jury's handwritten verdict sheet as an exhibit, Judge Labarga ruled that because the negligence claim was dependent upon a finding of a defect in the product, which the jury flatly rejected, the verdict had to be set aside. 

Since the November verdict, which was touted as a landmark defeat for the firearm industry by anti-gun organizations, there have been industry victories with the dismissal of cases in Wilmington, Delaware and Washington, DC. These defeats were also supported by the Brady Center which represented Mr. Grunow's widow along with billionaire anti-tobacco trial lawyer Bob Montgomery. 

NSSF vice president and general counsel Lawrence G. Keane said, "While everyone feels deep sympathy for Mrs. Grunow's loss, it is wrong to blame the company that lawfully sold a non-defective product more than ten years earlier for the criminal misuse of that product. The case illustrates the need for Congress to enact legal reforms to prevent other misguided suits that harm our economy." The plaintiff has thirty days to appeal today's decision setting aside the verdict.

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