VIRGINIA TECH MASSACRE
State Offers Settlement To Families Of Victims
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
RICHMOND, March 24 -- State officials are offering the families of those killed in the April 16 Virginia Tech massacre about $100,000 each if they give up their right to sue the state and university, officials and family members familiar with the agreement said last night.
Under the proposed offer, the state would not admit liability but would justify the payments as a way to avoid a series of lawsuits. The offer came after several weeks of closed-door talks between attorneys for the state and attorneys for families of the victims.
The office of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) declined to comment last night. Several family members refused to comment publicly last night, describing the offer as something that could change. The Associated Press reported last night the family members have until March 31 to accept the offer.
As part of the deal, the state would create a fund to help pay for the medical expenses of some of the more than two dozen students and faculty members injured in the shooting, state officials familiar with the offer said. The families of the 32 victims killed by the shooter would get about $100,000 each. The money would come from taxpayers.
Any settlement or payout from the state would be in addition to the $8.5 million in private donations that Virginia Tech distributed to the victims and their families last fall.
The families of those killed in the shooting by Virginia Tech student Seung Hui Cho of Fairfax County received payments of $208,000, unless they wanted a portion of the money to be used for a memorial scholarship. The injured received between $40,000 and $90,000 and free tuition, depending on the lengths of their hospital stays. The money was free of state and federal taxes.
More than two dozen victims filed claims against the state's insurance policy in October, the first step in possible legal action. The claims alleged that Virginia Tech and the state were negligent in the shootings because they failed to respond to Cho's mental disorder soon enough, did not quickly lock down the campus the day of the shootings and failed to have an effective emergency response plan. Cho killed himself.
State officials had argued that Virginia's liability would be limited because of the legal protection known as "sovereign immunity," a concept that it can do no wrong and cannot be sued. In the 1970s, the General Assembly waived the state's immunity for tort claims but capped potential damages at $100,000.
