National Trial Law Partner Jamal Alsaffar was recently featured on the front page of the Portland Press Herald. In the article, he explains how civil lawsuits can be the first step toward meaningful gun safety reform for Maine, which was devastated by a mass shooting that took 18 lives in Lewiston last month.
During a roundtable discussion in Lewiston a few weeks after the mass shooting, Mr. Alsaffar – joined by Attorney Josh Koskoff of Connecticut – discussed how parties who failed to keep the community safe could be held liable for the shooting. Initial investigations after the mass shooting uncovered that the shooter was an Army reservist who had a lengthy history of mental health issues and red flags, including a two-week stay at a psychiatric hospital and threats of violence.
As the lead attorney for the landmark Sutherland Springs mass shooting lawsuit, which resulted in a $230,000,000 trial judgment against the United States of America for failing to report the mass shooter to the FBI database, Jamal Alsaffar sees too many unsettling parallels between that case and what happened in Lewiston. Indeed, the similarities are why he believes a civil lawsuit could be used again to secure justice and compensation for the injured and the families of lost loved ones while also preventing future mass shootings. Depending on the results of in-depth investigations conducted by Attorneys Alsaffar and Koskoff, the potential defendants for a Lewiston mass shooting lawsuit could be the federal government, Maine’s state-level government, and/or Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., which is the manufacturer of the rifle used in the mass shooting.
In the meantime, Attorney Jamal Alsaffar will continue to investigate the circumstances of the Lewiston mass shooting and the laws that could be relevant to how and why it happened. Additional community roundtable discussions might also be necessary to coordinate how survivors and families of lost loved ones would like to proceed, so be sure to visit our blog often for any important updates.
Do you need to talk to National Trial Law about gun safety reform and justice following a mass shooting? Our team has the resources and genuine compassion to handle such sensitive and fiercely contested cases across the nation. Call (833) 913-1885 or contact us online at any time for more information.