U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

The families of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting have retained former U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. to represent them in their U.S. Supreme Court fight with gunmaker Remington Arms Co. LLC.

Court filings show Verrilli, of Washington, D.C.-based Munger, Tolles & Olson, is now the counsel of record for the plaintiffs. He filed a brief on their behalf Friday to oppose Remington's attempt to have the U.S. Supreme Court rule that a federal law shields it from liability in the Sandy Hook case.

Verrilli is among the highest-profile attorneys in the country.

Earlier this year, he was part of a team of lawyers representing the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which sought to fight back attempts by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other states to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Verrilli and fellow former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson are also set to square off this month before the country's high court to resolve a complex dispute over the status of an oversight board that the U.S. Congress established in 2016 to help Puerto Rico recover from a financial crisis.

Verrilli has now teamed with Munger Tolles colleagues Elaine Goldenberg, Rachel Miller-Ziegler, David Fry, Benjamin Horwich, Justin Raphael and Teresa Reed Dippo. They join with Connecticut attorneys Josh Koskoff, Alinor Sterling and Katherine Mesner-Hage of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder.

Opposing counsel are Swanson Martin & Bell Chicago attorneys James Vogts and Andrew Lothson, and Baker Botts litigators Scott Keller and Stephanie Cagniart. The Remington defense team did not respond to a request for comment Friday, and neither did Verrilli.

The litigation stemmed from the 2012 mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where gunman Adam Lanza used a Remington rifle to kill 20 schoolchildren and six educators.

Remington has argued it should not be held responsible for the lone gunman's actions, and rejected criticism of its marketing approaches. In an Aug. 1 petition for a writ of certiorari, the company cited the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields firearm makers from liability when their products are used in violent acts.

Donald Verrilli Jr. Courtesy photo

But the Connecticut Supreme Court rejected that argument, and ruled Remington could be sued under an exception to the law, allowing the lawsuit to proceed under state law.

In the opening comments of its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Remington makes it clear it's pinning its hopes on the 2005 law.

"The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act 'generally preempts claims against manufacturers and sellers of firearms and ammunition resulting from the criminal use of those products,'" the company wrote in its appeal.

"The Connecticut Supreme Court below held that the PLCAA's predicate exception encompasses all general statutes merely capable of being applied to firearms sales or marketing," Remington wrote. "In contrast, both the Second and Ninth Circuits have rejected this broad interpretation of the predicate exception, which would swallow the PLCAA's immunity rule."

But in their brief in opposition Friday, the families reiterated their assertion that Lanza used a weapon of war that has no place in a civilized society, other than in the military.

"The Sandy Hook victims were slain in a commando-style assault on the school," the brief reads. "Their killer's weapons of choice was a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, manufactured and marketed by petitioners. The XM15-E2S was designed for military combat, specifically to inflict maximum lethal harm on the enemy."

With regard to the gunmaker's argument under the PLCAA, the families attorneys wrote that "The Connecticut Supreme Court's interlocutory decision is not within this court's certiorari jurisdiction" under the U.S. Code.

"Nor does it present a question worthy of this count's review. Petitioners' claim of a conflict with the federal court of appeals decision is contrived," the petition argues.

The Koskoff firm brought suit in 2014 on behalf of the families of nine of the victims, in seeking financial damages against Remington and its daughter company, Bushmaster Firearms International LLC.

In a statement Friday, the firm said: "Remington, the NRA and political allies have asked the Supreme Court to throw away longstanding precedent and norms governing review in order to shield them from facing the Sandy Hook families."

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