AP
Richmond, Virginia: Five years before last week's massacre at Virginia Tech, a deeply disturbed student went on a murderous rampage at the Appalachian School of Law, killing three and wounding three others.
Some victims and family members sued the law school and eventually settled for $1 million (Dh3.67 million). Similar lawsuits are virtually certain in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, but legal experts say it could be difficult to win damages.
The gunman in the law school shooting in Grundy, Virginia - graduate student Peter Odighizuwa -had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Plaintiffs claimed in their $23 million lawsuit that school officials ignored a pattern of threats and disruptive behaviour that should have warned them Odighizuwa was dangerous. Sounds very much like a profile of Cho Seung-Hui.
However, there is one significant difference: While the Appalachian School of Law is a private institution, Virginia Tech is a state school and therefore enjoys a level of immunity.
How much immunity is a question that likely will be tested in court.
"When plaintiffs' lawyers get ahold of this, people may be surprised by their creativity," said Ashley Taylor, a former deputy attorney general who represented the state's colleges.
Sovereign immunity
The state, its institutions and employees are largely protected from civil lawsuits by "sovereign immunity" - a doctrine rooted in a tradition that allowed grievances against the king only if he said it was OK.
Virginia's government has waived sovereign immunity in a limited fashion through the Tort Claims Act, but it only permits damages of up to $100,000 for bodily injury caused by the state's negligence.
Source : http://www.gulfnews.com/world/U.S.A/10120691.html
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