A federal judge has agreed to further delay a class-action settlement involving some 7.5 million allegedly defective Remington rifles, after the parties in the case said they need more time to develop a better plan to alert the public. United States District Judge Ortrie Smith in Missouri put the case on hold last month, hours after CNBC published a new investigation into allegations that Remington's popular Model 700 rifle contains a design defect that allows it to fire without the trigger being pulled.

Remington continues to deny that there is a defect, but nonetheless has agreed to replace the triggers, free of charge, in millions of guns. However, Smith ordered the company and plaintiffs lawyers to go back to the drawing board, because only 2,327 gun owners out of more than 7 million had submitted claims since the tentative settlement was first announced.





Remington Model 700P Source: Wikipedia

"The Court cannot conceive that an owner of an allegedly defective firearm would not seek the remedy being provided," Smith wrote Dec. 8. The judge gave the parties until this Friday to come up with a better plan to notify the public, but in a motion this week, they said they need more time, citing "the complexity of the issues," and "the need to work with one or more third parties" to come up with the new plan.

The judge agreed to give both sides another 45 days, until Feb. 29.

Remington critics consider the delay a victory.

The watchdog group Public Justice, which secured the release of thousands of Remington internal documents at the heart of last month's CNBC report and has vowed to post all of the documents online, said it is "delighted" that the parties are taking time to come up with the best possible plan.



