Aleksich v. Remington Arms Co.
Public Justice represented Richard Barber in his efforts to obtain public access to the court file in Aleksich v. Remington, a personal injury case involving defects in the firing mechanism of Remington gun manufacturer’s popular 700-series rifle. The case settled in 1995 and was subsequently sealed in its entirety. Mr. Barber sought to unseal the court file to enable the public to obtain access to volumes of documents demonstrating that the defective trigger mechanism of the 700-series rifle causes the gun to discharge without a trigger pull. The documents further demonstrate that Remington has known of the dangerous defects in its rifles since the 1940s.
After granting Mr. Barber’s motion to intervene in the case in early 2012, a Montana Federal District Court ruled in September 2012 that the entire case file — except for details regarding the amount of the settlement — should be unsealed.
Staff attorneys Amy Radon and Leslie Bailey were lead counsel in the case. Bill Rossbach of Rossbach Hart, PC, in Missoula, Mont., and Richard Ramler of Ramler Law Office, P.C., in Belgrade, Mont., were co-counsel.
