In 2000, Pam Grunow's husband was tragically murdered by a 13 year old student the last day of school. The young teen stole a pistol from a neighbor, and used it to gun down the teacher outside his classroom. He was ultimately convicted for murder.

Grunow sued the gun distributor, Valor Corporation, alleging the product was "defective". She lost, and now Valor is counter-suing her to recoup legal fees. The AP offers up this sob story:

Pam Grunow's attorney, Rebecca Larson, said the widow was worried about losing her house if she was forced by the court to reimburse the gun company. The estate has no assets, Larson said.

Boo hoo hoo. Perhaps she should have thought of that before bringing a frivolous lawsuit. Forgive me if I sound unsympathetic. Grunow has suffered a tragic loss, and she may have been coerced into bringing a malicious lawsuit. Groups like the Violence Policy Center, or Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence Ownership, often solicit victims to bring malicious lawsuits in hopes of bankrupting gun dealers and manufacturers. Perhaps she should go back to them and see if they can dole her out some cash because their scam has backfired.

Either way, she is the one ultimately responsible for bringing forth a baseless lawsuit, that had absolutely no legal merit. Valor is simply trying collect their lost legal fees. As is typical in America, this is just another case of the bloodsucking lawyers getting rich and everyone else involved losing their shirt.

UPDATE: Kevin covers this in much greater detail.

Ms. Grunow sued the legal owner of the gun for the previous EIGHT YEARS, the pawnshop that sold the gun 13 YEARS BEFORE THE CRIME, Valor - the distributor that sold the gun originally, and the school system. (Edited to add: The gun was the same age as the shooter. Kinda makes you wonder which was the "defective product" doesn't it?) She settled out of court with the gun's legal owner for $300,000, with the pawn shop for $275,000, and with the school system for $245,000.

He also notes that Valor originally offered a settlement of $200,000, and that although she is claiming she's broke, Grunow received over $820,000 settlement money.