An Oakland County Circuit Court judge is deciding whether Oxford School district employees can be sued over how they handled the mass high school shooting in 2021.
The civil lawsuit, filed on behalf of the families of some victims of the school shooting, alleges that Oxford High employees were negligent in how they handled the lead-up to the massacre Ethan Crumbley carried out in 2021.
Lawyers for the district say state law grants the employees “governmental immunity from being sued. But a lawyer representing the families, Ven Johnson, says even if the litigation is thrown out, it won’t end the case.
“But at some point, more sooner than later, we would try to appeal those rulings, first to the Michigan court of appeals and if they didn’t agree with us on that then all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court," Johnson said.
Circuit court Judge Mary Ellen Brennan says the plaintiffs have to prove the alleged negligence should overrule governmental immunity.
"Right out of the gate, if it applies then everybody should be able to get on with things and the government shouldn't be in litigation for months and months," Brennan said.
The judge in the case says she will deliver her ruling on the matter in the near future.
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