80% Company Defeated by Everytown

[DocHawk]

Polymer80, manufacturer of arguably the most prolific 80% kit in the world, was forced to shut its doors two weeks ago. Employees were laid off abruptly, the website was taken down, and the doors are shuttered.

I am friends with the owner, Loran Kelley, He said that Everytown USA was filing an average of two new lawsuits every month against his company, and with the backing of big anti-2A money, the litigation costs drowned him before he ever even managed to defend himself. A recent settlement with the city of Baltimore was for 1.2M, and that pales in comparison to overall legal defense fees. It was literally cheaper to settle that one lawsuit than carry on the fight, and dozens more fights remained. Note that this is DESPITE the fact that recent court rulings went against the ATF's extra-legislative redefinition of 80%'s as firearms, and also the recent Supreme Court Chevron Doctrine ruling strips the ATF (and other agencies) of this kind of latitude in the future, which would have bolstered Polymer80's defense.

It's sad that we live in a nation where special interest money can destroy a legitimate company, supposedly protected by the Bill of Rights, simply by drowning it in litigation. Without recourse, without hope.

Edited August 8 by DocHawk

[krunchnik]

Yup-And who exactly did they save from the big bad gun company-no one-

Those non serial number frames were all just getting up and killing people left and right-

It's too bad these ignorant anti gunners don't actually put their money behind a cause that actually would save lives-like the Fentanyl problem-that actually kills thousands a year-

[LangdoniousRex]

This is partially why I left NV (home state of P80). On top of all that, the State of Nevada kept fabricating new law behind closed doors to purposely cripple P80 and criminalize their resident customers. While the pro 2A community have been winning some battles along the way, the war against the community will never stop. 

[gregintenn]

Well that’s horsechit! What were the nature of these lawsuits? My daddy always taught me that whatever a man did, you did not screw with his family nor his livelihood.

[Johnny Rotten]

1 hour ago, LangdoniousRex said:

This is partially why I left NV (home state of P80). On top of all that, the State of Nevada kept fabricating new law behind closed doors to purposely cripple P80 and criminalize their resident customers. While the pro 2A community have been winning some battles along the way, the war against the community will never stop. 

NV is/was MG friendly, what happen?

my parents lived in boulder city and been there 100's of x.

 

[Wheelgunner]

4 hours ago, DocHawk said:

Everytown USA was filing an average of two new lawsuits every month against his company, and with the backing of big anti-2A money, the litigation costs drowned him before he ever even managed to defend himself. A recent settlement with the city of Baltimore was for 1.2M, and that pales in comparison to overall legal defense fees. It was literally cheaper to settle that one lawsuit than carry on the fight, and dozens more fights remained. 

Frustrating.  Sorry to hear about the company's closure and your friend's troubles. 

Even sorrier it wasn't possible for the company to litigate these cases on the merits.  I completely understand settling.  It would be a long, expensive process.  Still, it might have resulted in final decisions against the cities - discouraging other cities from using the same tactic in the future against other companies that make parts, accessories, etc.

It's unfortunate the company sold products in blue states in the first place.  That increased the chance of having to defend state law tort suits against the company in places hostile to civil rights.  It also made the defense harder for the company.

[Scotty]

“It's sad that we live in a nation where special interest money can destroy a legitimate company, supposedly protected by the Bill of Rights, simply by drowning it in litigation. Without recourse, without hope.“

 

Unfortunately, this is a tale as old as time. Not firearm specific. Pretty much any startup can be sued out of business, especially by tech or gov. 
 

This isn’t the best link but the story about Nikola Tesla the first to come to mind.
 

 https://www.legallanguage.com/legal-articles/patent-law-radio/

[1gewehr]

It seems that it would be worthwhile for someone to buy the assets of P80 and resurrect a new company in a better state (TN, hint, hint!). Let the new company kick out new product and distribute it as fast as possible until the Everytown idiots make it hot again.  Go out of business having cost the idiots time and effort for nothing.  Then, start the whole process over again!

I'm no expert, but it seems that it would be a god plan.

[LangdoniousRex]

17 hours ago, Johnny Rotten said:

NV is/was MG friendly, what happen?

my parents lived in boulder city and been there 100's of x.

 

Dictator Sisolak was what happened. He was basically a skin suit for Gavin Newsom as there was a lot of California emulation at the time. This was when "ghost" guns were a hot topic for the commies so they did everything in their power to snuff them out. Much of the backroom legislature they jammed through eventually got thrown out by the courts but that takes time. There was a time in 2021-2022 that if you were in possession of an incomplete 80% lower, it was a felony in Nevada. I was already on the way out so I took my chunks of alloy and polymer to freer parts of the country. 

Supposedly Lombardo has been an improvement in many ways but the California culture shift continues as more of them relocate to the Silver State.