Judge Approves $11M Settlement in Virginia Tech Shootings

June 20, 2008

  • June 20, 2008 at 7:48 am
    Chris says:
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    Yep. The state (i.e. taxpayers) get(s) to pay because it was a state run school.
    If my child goes and kills himself am I entitled to a settlement from the taxpayers if they do so on public property? What about if my child is innocent and dies from an accident on public property? Should I be entitled to $$ from the taxpayers then? Nope. But if my child dies in a high profile shooting at their state run school and someone can be found liable for not acting sooner at the school…I can get $100,000. America, What a country!?!

  • June 20, 2008 at 2:16 am
    Ali says:
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    Another pathetic example of a legal system that need reform. In a supposed intelligent, civilized, progressive society, why do we cling to legal concepts that haven’t been revised in centuries? Why should any non-dependent survivor make money off something like this? Other than a scum sucking plaintiff attorney, whoever said that money heals anything? There are some things that can’t be compensated for and to attempt to apply an economic bandaid is stupid. Maybe we haven’t progressed as far up the food chain as we’d like to think.

  • June 20, 2008 at 2:21 am
    lauren says:
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    Am I missing something? An $11 Million award but amounts of only up to $100,000 for each person killed or injured. There were 32 killed and 18 injured = 50 claimants. Multiplied by $100,000 = $5 Million. Do the attorneys pocket the $6 Million left over?????

  • June 20, 2008 at 2:38 am
    Don says:
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    Let’s bet that the politicians found a way to exclude attorney fees from the statutory awards. These people know how to take care of each other. Reading about this kind of crap on a Friday afternoon makes me want to puke.

  • June 20, 2008 at 3:18 am
    Obviously it's not about the $ says:
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    “The amount the families are receiving does nothing to offset or reduce the pain that they will forever suffer,” said Douglas Fierberg, an attorney representing many of the families.

    Hogwash for the media?

  • June 20, 2008 at 3:29 am
    Gwen says:
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    I’m just curious, and I am asking this with no sarcastic undertones, where did the article say that non-dependents were getting benefits? I may have missed it…

  • June 20, 2008 at 3:48 am
    MT says:
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    I agree to some degree with Makes No Sense, however, the settlement is a public relations maneuver. This got so much attention that they had to do something. One of the most intelligent and supposedly progressive politicians we know, John Edwards, made tons of money as a claimant’s attorney on this and other sorts of BS lawsuits.

  • June 20, 2008 at 4:06 am
    Alicia says:
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    It referred to the “families” of 24 of the 32 dead. Since these were students, nobody depended on them for support.

  • June 20, 2008 at 4:27 am
    Gwen says:
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    Thank you, I assumed that’s what Ali meant.

    This is a tough situation. On one hand, I believe that you can’t put a dollar amount on somebody’s life, and what good would it do to have money if your loved one is gone and there’s nothing you can do to bring them back, but on the other hand, why shouldn’t the families (meaning parents) get a settlement? They have lost something irreplacable by no fault of their own or their childrens.

    I guess in my opinion, the only people that should be punished (sued), are the killer himself (which obviously he is dead, so that would do no good), and possibly the school for not locking down the school in a timely manner, possibly preventing more deaths. Also, how did this clown get on campus with a gun? VT’s security was definitely lacking in that respect.

    But that also brings into question, what about the killer’s family? Did they know that he was mentally ill to that degree? If so, and they did nothing about it, then they should have a degree of fault too.

    It’s not right that he just killed all of these people and then cops out and kills himself. He is the one who should be punished, and he is no longer here to be punished.

    In my opinion, the families of the students should get enough money to pay any expenses associated with the deaths (money for the funeral, for any outstanding debts their child may have had), and the families of the professors killed should get the same as the parents plus money for any dependents.

    I’m not ripping on anyone else’s posts, just trying to figure out what I think is the right to happen in this situation.

  • June 20, 2008 at 4:32 am
    Gwen says:
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    Okay, so after reading the article again, where is this settlement money coming from? The state? Meaning tax-payers money?



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