When students die on college campuses — whether in suicides or sports accidents or other incidents — grieving parents sometimes respond by accusing the institutions of negligence and filing suit.
But if the families of Virginia Tech students killed in Monday’s shootings try to sue the university, they will run into roadblocks, according to William E. Thro, solicitor general of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Under a legal concept known as sovereign immunity, Virginia law prohibits an individual from suing a state institution like Virginia Tech directly.
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