There was more than one shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018.
More than 100 bullets were fired. Hundreds of people were traumatized. Seventeen were critically injured. Seventeen more were killed.
The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to take on a case with huge ramifications for the Parkland high school massacre’s victims — is a mass shooting one incident, or many?
The answer could save or cost the state millions of dollars, and not just in Parkland. Insurance companies say mass shootings qualify as a single incident, capping the state’s liability at $300,000 to be divided among all the victims.
But if the court rules that they are separate incidents, the state’s liability becomes $200,000 for each victim, from the families of the murdered to the survivors of bullet wounds and even to those who were physically unharmed but still traumatized by the terror of Nikolas Cruz’s bloody rampage.
The case before the Supreme Court does not involve Parkland — it was brought in Palm Beach County against the Florida Department of Children and Families, which had investigated a Riviera Beach resident named Patrick Dell in 2009 for threatening his wife and stepchildren with a knife.
Dell went on to fatally shoot his wife and four of his stepchildren, then himself. A fifth stepchild survived.
The lawsuit was filed by the biological father of three of the murdered children. The father of the other children has filed a separate lawsuit and is making identical arguments.
“The same issues apply in the Parkland case,” said John McLuskey, one of the attorneys for Palm Beach plaintiff Michael Barnett. “These were separate shootings at separate locations at separate times. Every time he walked to find the next victim and raised his weapon, that’s a separate incident.”
A single incident, he said, would be something like a school bus driver running a red light and causing an accident that injured multiple people.
“One act of negligence,” he said. “All we’re really asking for is a fair interpretation of the statute.”
In liability cases, insurance companies representing state agencies handle the payouts. When the figure is too low, it’s up to the state Legislature to approve a payout from state funds.
Lawmakers have already signaled a willingness to open the coffers for the victims of Parkland — a bill to create a $160 million fund for the families of the dead and physically wounded is making its way through the Legislature in Tallahassee.
The funds would be available to those who do not sue the state. So far, the Broward School Board and the Broward Sheriff’s Office have each received nearly 80 notices of intent to sue from attorneys representing various victims, including the traumatized.
Barnett’s lawyers have until April 1 to present its argument in writing to the Florida Supreme Court. After that, the state has 30 days to respond.
Oral arguments would be set at a later date.
rolmeda@SunSentinel.com, 954-356-4457, Twitter @SSCourts and @rolmeda