Daniel Wemhoff '83 Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against AK-47 Manufacturer

Virginia attorney Daniel Wemhoff '83 is helping a D.C. family in a wrongful death lawsuit against Romarm, a Romanian state-owned weapons manufacturer that assembles AK-47s. The lawsuit says that Romarm should have never allowed an AK-47 to reach D.C., where it was then used in several murders in 2010.

From the Washington City Paper: "The larger goal in the suit against Romarm - apart from winning damages - is to keep guns out of criminals’ hands, Wemhoff says. He says suing weapons manufacturers can help manage the effects of guns on D.C. streets. The families of victims normally go after the gunmen, he says, but "these killers don’t have anything,” so it wouldn’t do much good to smack them with a huge lawsuit.

Romarm, on the other hand, has a lot. "I think it sends a message to the manufacturer,” Wemhoff says: that they should be responsible for tracking their guns once the company has released them into the world. Even though Romarm products can’t be purchased in D.C., courts have ruled that it would be "delusionary on the manufacturer’s part” to assume they won’t wind up here anyway, Wemhoff says.

Wemhoff says he expects "the case will settle and this gunmaker will be forewarned to cut off suppliers who can’t warehouse its weapons properly.” If Wemhoff’s client wins the lawsuit, Romarm will "have to think for themselves about where their weapons are going. It damages their reputation to have a big lawsuit out here.”"

Read more about the case in the Washington City Paper, "South Capitol Shootings: The Mourning After"