Judge orders auction of gun company

Deepa Bharath

A Florida judge on Thursday ordered an open auction of a local gun

company, which declared bankruptcy in May 2003.

On July 9, attorneys for 17-year-old Brandon Maxfield who was

rendered quadriplegic in an accidental shooting 10 years ago,

submitted a $175,000 bid on behalf of the teenager in an attempt to

buy out the manufacturer of the handgun that disabled him.

Richard Ruggieri, Brandon’s San Rafael-based attorney, said the

judge’s decision was one he had anticipated and hoped for all along.

“I’m very pleased, as is Brandon,” he said.

Ned Nashban, a Florida-based attorney representing Bryco Arms,

could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

The court order scheduling the auction of Bryco Arms’ assets on

Aug. 12 will open up the field to all interested parties, Ruggieri

said. The bidding will start at $175,000, which Brandon has already

accumulated through donations from supporters, he said. The winning

bidder will then get a week to pay the additional money, Ruggieri

said.

The money came through Brandon’s Arms, a website set up by the

teenager seeking support to buy out Bryco Arms, he said.

“We are going to need a healthy flow of contributions at this

point to bid successfully,” Ruggieri said.

Bryco Arms filed for bankruptcy less than a month after an Oakland

jury held the company liable for Maxfield’s shooting. The boy was

paralyzed in 1994 after a family friend accidentally shot him while

trying to unload a .38-caliber Bryco handgun.

The same jury also concluded that Bryco Arms manufactured a

defective weapon. Attorneys convinced jurors that Bryco’s guns have

an inherent flaw: to unload it, a user must first unlock the trigger

lock. On May 7, 2003, a jury awarded the teenager $50.9 million in

compensatory damages. Bryco has appealed that decision.

Brandon is passionate about buying out Bryco Arms because the gun

manufacturer still has more than 75,000 unassembled guns sitting in

its Costa Mesa plant, Ruggieri said.

Bryco Arms laid off its employees and stopped manufacturing in

January.

“But they could resume production any time,” Ruggieri said. “All

they need is labor. And these guns are waiting to be distributed in

the streets of Orange County. In Brandon’s mind, stopping those

75,000 guns from being assembled means 75,000 lives saved.”