Florida State Sen. Joe Gruters (R-23) is filing a bill which would direct the Broward County School Board to pay out as much at $25 million to the victims and families of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
The bill would only allow for 51 people to be eligible to receive the payments, 34 survivors and 14 families of students and teachers killed.
Previously, the Florida Supreme Court ruled a school board liability may not exceed $300,000 to be split among the victims as the Parkland shooting should be viewed as a single incident rather than each shot taken by the assailant being a separate incident, as attorneys for the families had previously insisted.
The bill will then supersede the court’s ruling and permit larger payments. Other victims will also be permitted to seek compensation through lawsuits, according to the bill.
The bill says the $25 million payouts only account for the claims filed against the Broward County School Board.
“(The) amounts specified in this act are not intended to constitute full and complete compensation to any victims for their damages, but are intended to satisfy only the claims by the claimants specified in this act against the School Board of Broward County and the School Board of Broward County’s share of fault, without regard to any claims of the claimants against other responsible parties and without regard to the liability of others.”
The bill rails against the Broward County School Board, repeatedly calling them “negligent” in their duties to be proactive in preventing the shooting, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis expressed similar frustrations.
DeSantis said the Parkland shooter “could have been arrested and convicted for assault. He could have been arrested and convicted for issuing threats, probably could have been arrested and convicted for other things too — because he was so outrageous in his conduct. And yet time and time again, when they went to his house … 20, 30 times, (they) chose to do nothing. Because the policy was, ‘we don’t want to get this individual in the justice system. It’s not good for statistics.’”
– – –
Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School” by Coral Springs Talk. CC BY 2.0.
.jpg){kind=link}