Bryco's Bankruptcy Ploy Successful; Plant Manager Makes Highest Bid; Thousands of Defective Guns Likely to Hit Streets
Jacksonville, FL - Since last year's unanimous $50.9 million jury award to Brandon Maxfield, Bryco Arms has been playing a shell game with its assets to avoid paying for Brandon's health care while simultaneously attempting to reorganize under a new name. Today, the company and its founder Bruce Jennings were successful. Bryco Arms' plant manager Paul Jimenez offered the highest bid of $510,000 (significantly higher than the original $150,000 Bryco proposed as a fair price to Jimenez) for Bryco's gun making equipment and 75,000 defective guns.
"I fear for the lives of other innocent children who will be hurt by Bryco's defective guns. What happened today is a tragedy. We got as far as we did because people from all over the world rallied to support my effort and for that I am grateful," Maxfield said. "But please know that while I am heartbroken that we didn't keep those guns off the streets, I will continue to face battles everyday and continue to win."
When he was seven years old, Maxfield was accidentally shot in the face with one of Bryco Arms' defectively designed guns. The gun was deliberately designed so it couldn't be unloaded unless its safety was moved from "safe" to "fire." Brandon became permanently paralyzed below the neck. Instead of compensating Maxfield and redesigning the guns, Bryco Arms declared bankruptcy."
Brandon launched an internet campaign via brandonsarms.org to raise money to bid on the equipment and guns. His highest bid today was $505,000.
"It's difficult to maintain faith in a system that allows a company to make a product designed to kill people, to do so with a major design flaw that permanently injures a child, and then lets them completely off the hook," said Richard Ruggieri, Brandon's lawyer. "However, we will not stop here. We will continue to fight to keep 'Saturday Night Specials' off the streets. Brandon's website www.brandonsarms.org will continue to collect donations for this next battle."
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