Patterson, et al. v. Meta, et al.
Holding social media and gun companies accountable for their role in the racist
mass shooting at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo.
Ten innocent Black people were murdered in a Buffalo grocery store by a shooter radicalized by social media. We’re suing the companies who let this happen.
GIFFORDS Law Center, the Law Office of John V. Elmore, the Social Media Victims Law Center, and Belluck & Fox LLP represent the estates of Haywood Patterson, Katherine Massey, and Andre Mackniel, three Black residents of Buffalo, NY, who were murdered by a white supremacist on May 14, 2022, as they shopped for groceries at Tops Friendly Market. We also represent Latisha Rogers, an employee of the store who survived the shooting.
The lawsuit was filed on May 12, 2023, against three members of the gun industry: Vintage Firearms, a store in upstate New York that sold the shooter an assault weapon with an easily removable magazine lock; MEAN, LLC, a company that sold what it purported to be a permanent magazine lock but that the shooter easily removed; and RMA Armament, which sold the shooter military-grade body armor.
The lawsuit also names as defendants multiple social media companies whose products radicalized the shooter into a violent white supremacist beginning when he was in high school, including Meta, Snap, Alphabet, YouTube, Discord, Reddit, Amazon, and 4Chan.
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Our complaint alleges that Vintage Firearms and RMA Armament negligently sold
their products to the Tops shooter and that MEAN engaged in false advertising
and deceptive conduct by selling a “lock” it claimed was permanent while
simultaneously providing simple instructions on how to remove it.
We also allege that the social media companies have designed defective
products that harm minors via their algorithms and have failed to warn users
about the addictive nature of social media products. We further allege that
several of the social media companies were unjustly enriched by running
advertisements next to a video of the Buffalo mass shooting.
Our clients are seeking compensation for the physical and mental pain they and
their loved ones have suffered, as well as injunctive relief, including but not
limited to requiring the social media companies to remedy the unreasonably
dangerous recommendation technologies in their products and to warn minor
users and their parents about the addictive nature of their products.
All but one of the defendants moved to dismiss the lawsuit soon after it was filed.
The trial judge denied those motions in early 2024, and the defendants have
appealed the court’s decisions.
The case was filed in the Supreme Court of New York for Erie County.
- Complaint (5/12/23)
- Decision denying MEAN LLC’s Motion to Dismiss (2/9/24)
- Decision denying Vintage Firearms Motion to Dismiss (3/7/24)
- Decision denying social media companies Motion to Dismiss (3/18/24)
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