Virginia employees' lawyers ask judge to dismiss Tech cases

Lawyers for Virginia employees being sued by the families of two victims of the April 2007 Virginia Tech massacre argued Monday that the cases should be dismissed because their clients are protected by sovereign immunity.

After the hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Christiansburg, Va., Judge William Alexander said he would issue a written ruling by Jan. 15, said Robert T. Hall, a lawyer for the family of Erin Peterson.

The families of Peterson and Julia Pryde allege that the state, the school and its counseling center, several top university officials and a local mental health agency failed to protect the students and are directly liable for gross negligence.

On April 16, 2007, Seung Hui Cho, a mentally ill student, shot and killed 32 students and faculty members and then killed himself.

Peterson's family alleges that the school tried to play down the first two killings, which occurred early that morning, and failed to warn students of a "reasonably foreseeable danger." They also allege that Cho was not properly identified as a danger and treated.

Sovereign immunity is intended to shield government employees who are doing their jobs.

The Peterson and Pryde families, each seeking $10 million in damages, were the only two that did not agree to an $11 million settlement with the state in June 2008. Peterson attended Westfield High School in Chantilly. Pryde lived in Middletown, N.J.