Survivors of the shooting at Virginia Tech and families of those who were killed there have reached an $11-million settlement with the Commonwealth of Virginia that precludes lawsuits against the university and the state.
A majority of the victims’ families agreed to the settlement, which offers them financial compensation, health-care benefits, and other assistance.
More-specific details are not yet available, but the state plans to make the settlement public once it is final, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said in a written statement. He called the agreement a “reasonable resolution and response to the legitimate needs, interests, and concerns arising out of that horrific event.”
The settlement may also tell more of the story of April 16, 2007. According to Bode & Grenier, a law firm that represents many of the families, the arrangement will “result in the release of previously undisclosed facts and information ... that will enable the public to better understand the events which caused this senseless tragedy and why this settlement with Virginia has been reached.”
Aid for Medical Care
Reports of a proposed settlement first surfaced late last month (The Chronicle, March 26). According to The Virginian-Pilot, a newspaper in Norfolk, Va., the state had offered $100,000 to each family of a student or professor who was killed, as well as a total of $800,000—not more than $100,000 per person—to those who were injured.
Thirty-two students and professors were murdered by the gunman at Virginia Tech, and 23 were physically injured in the attack, according to the report by a state review panel. By last month, 22 families of those killed and wounded had filed claims against the state, indicating that they may sue.
In Virginia, $100,000 is the maximum award plaintiffs can win from the state in cases of simple negligence, and the principle of sovereign immunity shields state agencies from many potential claims. The victims’ families have already received between $11,500 and $208,000 each from the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.
Neither the state nor the university disclosed on Wednesday which families had agreed to the settlement. According to The Virginian-Pilot’s initial reports, the proposal also offered them meetings with the governor and university officials; a $3.5-million fund for campus-safety projects, memorial events, and payments to those suffering severe hardships related to the shootings; and opportunities to receive reduced-cost health insurance and medical treatment.
A senior official at Virginia Tech who spoke on the condition of anonymity said on Wednesday that he was satisfied with the settlement over all. “I’m most pleased,” he said, “that we found a way to help the injured students with their future medical care.”
Setting Up a Settlement
The state panel that investigated the tragedy at Virginia Tech and criticized the university on several counts laid the groundwork for this settlement, legal experts told The Chronicle.
The panel’s report, released last summer, said that university officials failed to act on clear warnings that Seung-Hui Cho, the student who became the gunman, had severe psychological problems (The Chronicle, August 31). Also, the report said, administrators were too slow to alert the campus after the first shootings, in a residence hall. By the time electronic notifications went out, many of the victims of the second attack had already entered the academic building where it took place.
“The state report to the governor set up a settlement number of this magnitude,” said Peter F. Lake, director of Stetson University’s Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy. “Had the report been more protective of Virginia Tech, it might have been different.”
But the particular circumstances of the case kept the dollar value lower than it might have been elsewhere, Mr. Lake said. “If you have state immunity, and you’re settling for $11-million ... you could be talking about $50-million at a private institution or in a state that doesn’t have sovereign immunity.”
This settlement will join others in influencing public expectations of colleges and universities, said Sheldon E. Steinbach, a lawyer in Washington.
As in two separate cases that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology settled with the families of students who died there—Scott S. Krueger, of alcohol poisoning, and Elizabeth H. Shin, of suicide—the Virginia Tech settlement will “lay some of the psychological framework for what institutions need to do,” Mr. Steinbach said. “Society seems to expect that someone be held responsible.”
Unlike the Elizabeth Shin case, the Virginia Tech settlement does not set any legal precedent, but it may set a standard, said Steven J. McDonald, general counsel at the Rhode Island School of Design. “A high-profile case like this is something people will remember,” he said. “Everyone will have to deal with that.”
‘Emotional Overlay’
Still, a settlement was the right move by Virginia Tech, legal experts agreed.
“They made a very rational and appropriate decision in a case that probably had a great deal of uncertainty to it and a great emotional overlay,” Mr. McDonald said.
The families who did not accept the settlement may decide to sue, and those cases could take several years to resolve. Litigation resulting from the Kent State University shootings in 1970 dragged on for many years, and lawsuits related to the deadly collapse of a bonfire at Texas A&M University in 1999 are still wending their way through state courts, with no judgment against the university so far.
Bode & Grenier advised the 21 Virginia Tech families it represents to accept the settlement, and 19 of them did, said Douglas E. Fierberg, a lawyer with the Washington-based firm.
“We believed it was in their best interest to accept it, because it met so many of their specific needs,” he said. “But every family has unique concerns in this situation.”
Vincent J. Bove, a security specialist who has advised many of the victims’ families, had recommended against accepting the settlement.
“The honor of their children is worth more than the distraction of a settlement,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. “They want transparency, accountability, and consequences. They don’t want this settlement to overshadow their commitment to those goals.”
It may take more than a week for the settlement to become final and its details public, as the victims’ families turn their attention to the one-year anniversary of the tragedy next Wednesday.
“Families aren’t going to be asked,” Mr. Fierberg said, “to view settlement agreements during that time.”
Eric Hoover and Scott Carlson contributed to this report.
