They are businessmen, they must watch their bottom line. They had to weigh the cost of settling with against the cost of litigating, pluse the risk of losing and paying a much larger award. Lots of stuff to balence.
That said, I certainly wish they hadn't caved. Even though they probably had some weasleword about not accepting any guilt in the settlement paperwork, this sends the message that they were responsible. It also encourages others to go for the perceived "deep pockets" of the arms industry.
This is not a Good Thing. We could win the AWB battle, and not have any guns to buy because the manufacturers have been sued out of business.
The sad reality is that the likely jury pool was from the DC/Metro area - translation, huge jury verdict for the plaintiff's regardless of the law.
The liberal urban juries love to take money from the evil corporations and give it to the victim's and their families. And that is just a general rule in a lawsuit.
Add to the mix the fact that the defendant's are evil gun manufacturers and distributers and you have a disaster in the making. This settlement was negotiated by the Insurance Company's lawyers, not by Bushmaster's management. Settlements of lawsuits rarely reflect the validity of the claim and whether it could survive in a legal analysis based on tort principles and devoid of emotion. (Hence the need for tort reform.)
And no, Bushmaster truly is not responsible, if they decide not to provide their merchandise to a licensed dealer they open themselves up to all sorts of lawsuits by the dealer. Since the dealer was approved by the BATFE the Feral Government should be the entity paying out the money for the settlement.
Oh, that's right, we serfs can't sue the government...