Families of fallen students outraged over liability cap
Still recovering from the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, more families reacted angrily Friday to limits on how much money the school district expects to pay victims.
An insurer for the Broward School District is sending letters to the families of children who were killed, wounded or traumatized, informing them that the district’s liability under state law is capped at $300,000 — for all of the families together.
Gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 and wounded 17 in the rampage on Valentine’s Day, firing into classrooms with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime died in the attack, said his daughter’s life was worth far more than the cap allows.
“I’m livid mad,” Guttenberg told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Friday. “If
this gets treated as one incident and you divide it by 17” — and then add the injured students — that “puts the value of my daughter around $10,000. I have a real problem with that.”
Florida’s sovereign immunity laws say public bodies don’t have to pay more than $200,000 in a claim by a single person or $300,000 for an incident involving multiple people. Victims seeking more have to get approval from the state Legislature through a claims bill, which can take years to pass.
School district spokeswoman Nadine Drew said the district is not trying to limit payouts. “It is simply stating the law of the State of Florida that has been put in place by the Legislature.”
The district will not say which families have sent notices that they intend to sue, but several said Friday that they have received responses from the district’s insurance company, Johns Eastern Co.
The parents of Joaquin “Guac” Oliver, who died in the shooting, stood outside the Broward School District building Friday with their attorneys and spoke about the cap on damages, which Manuel Oliver called “absurd.”
“I wasn’t even worried about compensation until yesterday,” he said. “I was worried about the future of this generation like Joaquin’s that is out there. This is a new battle for me.”
The lawyer for Daniela Menescal, a student who was injured, filed a petition in Broward court this week asking a judge to review whether the school district can treat the shooting as one occurrence involving multiple parties. The attorney, Patrick Lawlor, said he has two other clients who got similar letters from the insurance company. Alex Arreaza, the attorney representing Anthony Borges, who survived five gunshots, said his client got the letter, too.
“If [the district is] not serious about resolving this then it’s going to end up in trial,” Arreaza said. “This is more game playing on their part. To even attempt to do this is just offensive, and it’s offensive to all the people that died and got injured here.”
Borges is still recovering from his injuries and will begin more intense physical therapy Monday. He is using a walker to get around, Arreaza said.
Manuel Oliver said no amount of money will make up for his family’s pain.
“We are devastated as a family. I lost my son, I lost my best friend. … When I go home I have an empty room that belonged to Joaquin. And I have to see it every night. Two nights ago I spent the night in my kid’s room so I could feel closer to him.”