After four students were killed and others injured at Oxford High School, a lawyer announced Thursday that two lawsuits have been filed seeking $100 million in each case. The district, its superintendent, principal and others have all been sued.
Geoffrey Fieger, an attorney with the Fieger Law firm in Detroit, said the suit was filed there on Thursday. A student and her sister, who were next to her during the shooting on Nov. 30, filed the lawsuits on behalf of the student who was shot in the neck.
The school district is listed in the lawsuits with their most notable named as Superintendent Timothy Throne, Oxford High School principal Steven Wolf and a staff member who was also placed on leave from his job. Other key personnel include two counsellors for students at risk of not doing well academically or emotionally; teachers whose jobs are now threatened due to cuts made by these suits filed against them.”
At the school near Detroit, around 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of Detroit, eleven students and a teacher were shot.
The school was raided by police on Monday, and Ethan Crumbley, 15, was arrested and charged with murder, terrorism, and other offenses as an adult. They were then arrested for involuntary manslaughter, along with James and Jennifer Crumbley.
From what I understand, personal injury lawyers agree with the school district that it will be hard to sue them for letting Crumbley stay in their classroom. Michigan law sets a high bar when seeking liability of public schools and other branches of government so there’s no incentive either way at this point even though he may have caused some damage.
A lawsuit must prove that an administrator or faculty member acted in gross negligence, meaning they didn’t consider the possibility of an injury, according to attorney A. Vince Colella.
prosecutors said James Crumbley bought the firearm days before the shooting and their son was fully equipped to use it.
A teacher found a drawing of a gun, a bullet, and a person who appeared to have been shot, along with a message that said “My life is useless” and “The world is dead” the day before the shooting. School officials met with Ethan Crumbley and his parents after school.
According to Throne, Crumbley’s family flatly refused to take their son home.
