Madison County Circuit Judge Dennis Ruth granted dismissal following a settlement in a consumer fraud suit alleging a firearms magazine sold the publication with a printing defect.
Plaintiff Ethan Borgemeyer reached an undisclosed settlement with Outdoor Sportsman Group Inc. He the filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the complaint with prejudice on Nov. 21 through attorney Thomas Maag of Wood River. Ruth granted the motion on Nov. 30.
The proposed class action was filed on March 17, 2021, alleging Outdoor Sportsman Group publishes a publication known as “Firearm News.” The suit states that for approximately 20 years, the defendant has published a “Treasury Edition.”
The defendant’s 18th Annual Treasury Edition published in May 2018 was allegedly advertised as being “packed with more than two-dozen articles on firearms history during wartime, exciting gun reviews, and rare firearms from single-shots to machineguns!” The cover of the publication allegedly stated that it was a “collection of the best Firearms News Articles Published in 2017” with the table of contents listing more than two dozen articles.
“However, due to an apparent printing error, the actual document, actually released for sale and to subscription holders was nearly exactly half of what it was advertised to be, in that half of the publication is missing, and that the half that is present, is printed twice,” Maag wrote. “This fact is not disclosed to purchasers, even though it would be highly relevant to the decision of whether or not to purchase same.”
Borgemeyer claimed the defendant failed to notify purchasers of the defect and failed to make efforts to recall the publication or provide a refund.
“Instead, the publication was sold for months, sent to all subscribers, and allowed to go on its merry way, despite the fact that buyers were getting half of the information that they paid for, printed twice,” Maag wrote.
The suggested retail price of the publication was approximately $10 with an average sale tax of roughly $1 per copy. The plaintiff alleged Outdoor Sportsman Group violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
Outdoor Sportsman Group responded to the complaint in July 2021 through attorney Jonathan Potts of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in St. Louis, denying the allegations.
“Defendant further states that it has no record of any printing error in the Eighteenth Annual Firearm News Treasury or any customer complaints about the Eighteenth Annual Firearm News Treasury other than the allegations in this lawsuit,” the answer stated.
“On information and belief, all or virtually all copies of the publication purchased by consumers do not possess the defect described in the complaint, which, if true, is an aberration,” it continued.
In a response to the defendant’s affirmative defenses, Borgemeyer argued that Outdoor Sportsman Group “has no evidence that all or even a significant number of the copies do not possess the defect …”
The defendant also argued that Borgemeyer failed to take appropriate action by returning or exchanging the publication for a correct version.
Borgemeyer responded that the defendant only assumed “that a store, like Wal Mart, will even take back a used magazine, or that all of the other magazines on the rack had the same defect.”
The defendant amended its affirmative defenses, stating that it was unable to identify any defective copies of the publication as an investigation had yielded no defects.
Outdoor Sportsman Group later filed a motion to provide $300 to the plaintiff and agreed to pay his reasonable attorneys fees and costs. That motion was later deemed moot before an undisclosed settlement was announced.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 21-L-344