Whether or not the gun was pointed in a safe direction is immaterial in regard to there being a defect if the gun went off when it was not supposed to go off. That people were injured or killed just ups the settlement. Taurus has already lost one or more suits for this problem and has others pending. People should not have been hurt, but then again, as per the suits, the guns should not have gone off.
We have safety rules in case stuff like this should happen, but the safety rules are not legally binding and don't absolve the manufacturer from responsibility. This point has been hammered home with numerous cases, many of which Remington learned about the hard way.
And yes, this is definitely bad news for Taurus.