Category Archives: law

Me, Brandon, and Sue

Brandon Maxfield has died

Me, Brandon, and Sue

 

 

 

It is with a heavy, heavy heart that I share the news that Brandon Maxfield has died. Here is the official public statement:

Brandon Maxfield died on November 13th at age 29, at home in Willits, CA, due to complications from quadriplegia incurred at age 7 in the accidental discharge of a defective handgun.

Brandon garnered international notoriety in 2005 after obtaining a $24 million verdict against notorious Southern California-based ‘junk gun’ manufacturer Bryco Arms, when a unanimous jury found the handgun’s design was a significant contributing cause of his injuries. When the manufacturer declared bankruptcy, trying to recreate itself and sell off existing defective handguns, Brandon created nonprofit Brandon’s Arms to solicit public support and block the sale. While Brandon’s public bid to re-purpose the manufacturer’s assets ultimately failed, he succeeded in keeping over 20,000 unsafe semiautomatic pistols off the streets. At Brandon’s request, these handguns, which could have generated $2-3 million dollars to help with his medical expenses, were instead ordered destroyed by the bankruptcy court. As Brandon insisted, “I’m not going to let him put one more kid in a wheelchair.”

Brandon’s case resulted in the first ever U.S. jury verdict holding a functioning firearm defective in its safety design, after the manufacturer, attempting to hide a jamming problem, deliberately precluded the user from engaging the manual safety during unloading. Brandon’s case was notable for its refusal to enter the “guns are good / guns are bad” debates of previous litigation, insisting instead that guns should be made reasonably safe for the user and innocent bystanders, like any other consumer product. He is widely acknowledged to have singlehandedly forced the closure and expulsion from California of the country’s most prolific Saturday Night Special manufacturer.

During his shortened life Brandon’s selfless efforts were honored by the California State Legislature, the City of San Francisco, Senator Dianne Feinstein spoke about him on the Senate floor, and he appeared on every national news program. Brandon’s efforts were also recognized by the Legal Community Against Violence (now Smart Gun Laws), Public Justice, and the American Trial Lawyers’ Association, among others.

The book Move to Fire chronicles Brandon’s story and is currently under development as a feature length film.

Born and raised in Willits, CA, Brandon was well liked, socially active, a mega-fan of music and the WWF, and despite his disability, graduated from Willits High School with a 4.0 GPA. A private memorial service will be held by the family, who offer their gratitude to Brandon’s many friends and fans, and encourage them to post tributes to Brandon on the Move To Fire Facebook page.

At the family’s request, media inquiries should be directed to Mike Harkins, via Facebook.com/movetofire.

Here is the Los Angeles Times obituary:

L.A. Times — http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-brandon-maxfield-20161118-story.html

 

How to grow a book — The seeds of Move To Fire

These are just a few notes from the notebook I used while watching attorney Richard Ruggieri’s closing statement in Brandon Maxfield’s case, which was the first time I saw the attorney ‘work.’ The note in the upper right references how Ruggieri had told his young client not to attend due to the sensitive, difficult issues Ruggieri would be talking about. Upper left are quick notes about the jury, and below are notes about Ruggieri explaining that he wasn’t asking for sympathy for Brandon, but rather for empathy. Although I’d done some research on the story prior to this day, Ruggieri’s closing statements and his masterful connection with the jury convinced me to write Move To Fire.

93,000 words grew from these

An author’s review of Move To Fire

Brian Fies is a personal and professional friend. His review was unsolicited and, frankly, unexpected. With his permission, I included this part of his review on the book’s Amazon Page:  “…like a legal thriller…the suspense is compelling. Move to Fire isn’t an anti-gun screed.  Move to Fire is a passion project by a writer who knows how to mine facts, build characters, and use them to tell a terrific story. I found it an engrossing, well-built narrative that pulled me through, page by page.” — Brian Fies, award winning author of Mom’s Cancer and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow.

You can access the complete review here: Award-winning author’s review of Move To Fire

Move To Fire excerpts — here’s the first

I’ve been thinking that posting some short selections from Move To Fire might be both interesting and enticing (I figure you’ll let me know…). I’ll do this every week or so for, well, at least a while. Hope you enjoy or are enticed to find out more. Seems logical to start at the start, so here’s the first from Move To Fire’s Foreword:

“Move To Fire is an only-in-America story. The people in it are all of us — parents, kids, business people, lawyers, good people, and bad people. There are guns, an accidental shooting, and a lawsuit. It’s an American trifecta. It’s out best, our worst, and exposes how little we may actually know about things for which we voice our opinions, sometimes voiced at the top or our lungs.”

From “Move To Fire – A family’s tragedy, a lone attorney, and a teenager’s victory over a corrupt gunmaker,” available from Amazon, Apple’s iStore, and Barnes & Noble Online.

The release of Move To Fire

My book is now available. I am proud of the work, still marvel at the story, and I’m grateful to the people who allowed me to share this with everyone:

Click here for Move To Fire on Amazon.

It’s a slow rollout, and it may be buried under the plethora of books heavily promoted as gifts for the holidays, but, hell, it took almost eleven years to get it here, so a slow rollout, while occasionally frustrating, almost seems appropriate. I’ll add more bookseller links as distribution expands, and I’ll also use this site to share much about this next phase of the process: reviews, reactions, promo and publicity, etc.

Due to the subject matter — lawyers, guns, and money — I’ll heavily moderate all posts and comments. I’ll allow the full range of viewpoints, but I will also not allow the kind of base, crude, and aberrant type of comments that are always shared (yep, always) by those who have an established, unwavering position on guns, gun violence, gun regulation, and the Second Amendment. The vitriol written by trolls from the safety of their hovels can be repugnant in ways decent folk can’t imagine, as is documented in Move To Fire.

I also look forward to hearing from those who want to explore fact vs myth, accuracy vs rumor, and… you get the point, I’m sure.

Talk to me, tell your friends about this, and no matter what side of America’s guns issue you’re on, recommend this book to every woman, man, and young adult. Obviously, I have to do what I can to succeed commercially, but I have always felt that the Move To Fire story will assist people in their efforts, in OUR efforts, to establish a DMZ of reason and awareness as we work toward a solution to America’s gun problem… because there IS a problem, and one of Move To Fire’s attributes is the underlying lessons of how to find solutions and create change.

Move To Fire – A family’s tragedy, a lone attorney, and a teenager’s victory over a corrupt gunmaker.