Court Rejects Parkland Family's Lawsuit Against Gun Maker, Store

TALLAHASSEE, FL — A state appeals court on Wednesday rejected a request by the parents of a Parkland school shooting victim to pursue a lawsuit against gun maker Smith & Wesson, according to a report.

A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld a circuit court judge's decision to dismiss an attempt by Fred and Jennifer Guttenberg to obtain an "advisory opinion," which would have allowed them to pursue a lawsuit against Smith & Wesson and Sunrise Tactical Supply, News Service of Florida reported.

Smith & Wesson manufactured the AR-15-style rifle used by Nikolas Cruz to kill 17 people and injure 17 others in a 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Sunrise Tactical Supply sold the gun to Cruz a year before the shooting, according to the report.

The Guttenbergs' 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was among those killed in the shooting.

In its ruling, the court said it could not assure the Guttenburgs that they could sue Smith & Wesson without risking significant fees should they lose. The Guttenburgs sought the advisory opinion to determine whether gun makers and sellers were legally protected from lawsuits under Florida state law.

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Cruz was sentenced in November 2022 to 34 consecutive life sentences in prison after a jury rejected the death penalty on all 17 first-degree murder convictions.

Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting rampage. The massacre was the deadliest mass shooting that ever went to trial in the United States. Nine other people in the United States who fatally shot at least 17 people died during or immediately after their attacks by suicide or police gunfire.

During his sentencing, many of the families and loved ones of the victims criticized a Florida law that requires jury unanimity for a death sentence to be imposed — Cruz's jurors voted 9-3 in favor of his execution.

"You deserve the opportunity to rot away," David Alhadeff, the uncle of Alyssa Alhadeff, told Cruz via Zoom from his classroom in Maryland. "You deserve the opportunity to absorb the look of terror on your face once you leave this courtroom. You deserve the opportunity of knowing that justice will prevail at some point, causing you great anguish, minute by minute, day by day."

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