Neetu Chandak | Education and Politics Reporter
Several Florida families and survivors filed more than 20 lawsuits against the Broward School District and the Broward Sheriff’s Office over alleged negligence during the 2018 Parkland shooting.
Haggard Law Firm attorney Todd Michaels said 22 lawsuits would be filed by 13 law firms representing 26 families and survivors, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. Some of the suits were filed Wednesday.
“Actions speak louder than words and the victims and victims’ families have been very patient,” Michaels said in a statement. “It has become clear that the School Board has no intention of taking responsibility the families have asked for, so the patience of these families and survivors who have waited to officially file their lawsuits has ended.”
Michaels’ firm represents teacher Stacey Lippel along with the families of teacher Scott Beigel and student Joaquin Oliver, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 people dead Feb. 14, 2018. (RELATED: Second Parkland Shooting Survivor Dies In ‘Apparent Suicide’)
Some of the reported failures included unlocked school doors, police distracted by equipment instead of confronting suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz immediately and other communication problems, according to an initial report by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission.
The Sun Sentinel also published a minute-by-minute report of the shooting based on 911 logs, interviews and surveillance videos. “Unprepared and Overwhelmed” found three separate instances in which the school could have been locked down and the district failed to have places to be out of an intruder’s sight, even after the advice of security experts.
Mitch Dworet, one of the parents filing a suit, lost his son Nick Dworet. His second son, Alexander, did survive. The father said his family has not been the same since the shooting.
“He [Alexander] was injured, he saw children killed and he lost his brother,” Dworet said. “This is life sentence for me, every day, it’s 14 months. I want accountability.”
BCPS Public Information Officer Nadine Drew told the Daily Caller News Foundation the district does not comment on “potential, pending or ongoing litigation.”
“We make it a practice not to comment on pending litigation,” BSO Public Information Officer Keyla Concepción told TheDCNF.
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