Michigan judge dismisses all lawsuits against Oxford school district related to 2021 shooting
A Michigan Circuit Court judge has dismissed all lawsuits brought against the Oxford Community School District in connection with a 2021 school shooting at Oxford High, saying the district and its employees enjoy protection. government immunity and could not be prosecuted because the shooter is the most direct cause of the attack.
Nearly a dozen lawsuits have been filed by victims and families of victims of the shooting, accusing the school district and several school employees of negligence, gross negligence and violation of the Privacy Act. childhood, among other claims.
Several lawsuits have alleged that accused school shooter Ethan Crumbley exhibited “disturbing behavior indicative of psychiatric distress, suicidal or homicidal tendencies, and the possibility of child abuse and neglect,” but the school has not acted appropriately. The lawsuits allege school officials failed to act appropriately to prevent violence when the teenage shooter showed several warning signs leading to the shooting.
In this Dec. 7, 2021 file photo, an exterior view of Oxford High School is shown in Oxford, Michigan.
Emily Elconin/Getty Images, FILE
Crumbley, 15, a student at the school, allegedly shot and killed four of his classmates and injured seven others in November 2021. Crumbley has been charged with 24 counts.
Crumbley pleaded guilty to all charges against him last October. He also admitted that his parents bought him the gun used in the shooting with his own money and that it was kept in an unlocked safe.
The school district has asserted that civil lawsuits against it alleging Fourth Amendment violations are barred because the district enjoys government immunity. Governmental immunity protects government agencies from legal liability if the agency is “engaged in the performance or discharge of a government function”, according to court documents.
In her ruling, Oakland County Circuit Judge Mary Ellen Brennan said the conduct of the school district and its employees named in the lawsuit was not the “proximate cause” of the victims’ injuries.
In this file photo from December 3, 2021, a memorial is shown outside Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan.
Scott Olson/Getty Images, FILE
The lawsuit accuses several school employees of failing to properly respond to Ethan Crumbley’s conduct in the day and a half before the shooting, according to court documents.
Brennan ruled that Crumbley’s act of firing the weapon was the “most immediate, effective and direct cause of the injury or damage”, not the actions of district and school employees, arguing that their conduct did not cause immediate harm to the complainants.
Ethan Crumbley’s parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, are also charged with four counts of manslaughter after they allegedly failed to recognize their son’s warning signs in the months leading up to the shooting. They pleaded not guilty.
People gather at the memorial for the dead and injured outside Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan on December 3, 2021.
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
Attorney Ven Johnson, who represents the families of students who were killed in the shooting, criticized the ruling and the law behind it, saying his clients felt victimized again.
“On behalf of our Oxford clients, we are deeply saddened and disappointed by Judge Brennan’s dismissal today of all defendants from Oxford Community Schools. We maintain that government immunity is wrong and unconstitutional, and the law should be changed immediately,” Johnson told ABC News. in a report.
He added: “Under the law, everyone should be treated the same. No one should have more rights than others just because they work for the government. If this shooting happened at a school private, this case would go to trial and no such defenses would exist.”
Johnson also called on the Michigan legislature to change the government immunity law. He said he plans to appeal the judge’s decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
In a statement to families in the district published on ABC News, the school board said: “We recognize that the decision will affect each of our families in the school community differently. Oxford is still grieving. Oxford is still healing. So As we continue this journey, the community of Oxford Schools remains committed to providing a world-class education for our students, a workplace of choice for our staff, recovery supports for our community, and a safe learning environment. and wholesome for all lives in which we are privileged to be a part.”