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TOPICS: mark mcnamee ed spencer lawsuit april 16 larry hincker charles steger wendell flinchum
The families of April 16 shooting victims Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde have filed lawsuits in Fairfax County Circuit Court, seeking to "reveal truths" they feel have been misrepresented.
Related: Suit, April 16 document archive
Two identical lawsuits allege wrongdoing against the administrator of Seung-Hui Cho's estate, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Cook Counseling Center and several individual university officials.
Each family is seeking $10 million in damages.
Celeste and Grafton Peterson and Harry and Karen Pryde made a joint statement on the lawsuits.
"Erin and Julia loved Virginia Tech and they felt at home there and were receiving a wonderful education," the statement said. "But, on April 16, 2007, the administrators who ran the university let our daughters down in ways we are just now learning."
The lawsuit names eight university officials as defendants, including President Charles Steger, former Executive Vice President James Hyatt, Provost Mark McNamee and Vice President for University Relations Larry Hincker.
Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum, five employees of the Cook Counseling Center and two members of the New River Valley Community Services Board are also named as defendants.
Specifically, the families accused university officials of making false statements, both to the Governor's Review Panel and to the public.
"University officials, it now appears, may have been less than candid and forthright in their responses to the questions put to them by the panel," according to the statement.
The Peterson and Pryde families were the only families that did not accept a settlement proposed by the university in the spring of 2008.
Documents made available to families that signed the settlement were later released to the public in December by the Collegiate Times and then again in February by the university.
"When the university subsequently released its document archives to the public in February 2009, we were convinced that we made the right choice to refuse the settlement," according to the statement.
Those documents, the families said, omit important information about Cho's mental illness and the activity of the policy group.
"One of the most troubling discoveries has come from our own investigations, a review of the document archives, and witness statements," according to the statement.
The lawsuit claims events recent as of April 16, 2007, such as an April 13 bomb threat and the escape of William Morva from a nearby jail, had led Virginia Tech officials to become more concerned with the university's image than with student safety.
"The university administration, and more specifically defendants Steger, Hyatt, Hincker and others had become sensitized to the impact bad news could have on the university's image, and how an impact on that image might in turn impact on public and private financing for the university," the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit takes particular issue with one inter-administration e-mail, asking, "Was the university fixated on its image to the exclusion of the safety of its students and faculty?"
President Steger received an e-mail on the afternoon of April 16, 2007, discussing the effects of the shootings on a fundraising gala scheduled for the following weekend.
"After expressing his condolences for the events of that morning, the gentleman said, 'I am also thinking of the ramifications to the (fundraising) weekend ... the tragedy ... also represents an opportunity to communicate ... and to solicit support both financially and morally.'"
The sender was identified by the lawsuit as the "Advisory Co-Chair" of the fund raising gala.
Documents obtained by the Collegiate Times in December include an e-mail from Gene Fife, a 1962 Tech graduate who serves on the Honorary Alumni Campaign Committee for the Campaign for Virginia Tech.
Fife sent the email to Elizabeth "Betsy" Flanagan, Vice President for Development and University Relations, and copied it to Steger.
The complete text of the e-mail relating to the gala reads as follows:
Leave a comment 19 Comments Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.
Blame Fife for sending that e-mail, not Steger for receiving it. Hindsight is great, but the fact is that no one expected this would happen. The single worst mass murder in the history of the United States could not have been predicted by some counselor over at Cook. The risk you run in naming someone as dangerous is significant, because it labels them for the rest of their lives, regardless of their actual potential to inflict serious harm. Many individuals have led seemingly normal lives with no precursors to violence, and have still committed heinous acts. Rather than fault the administration, fault the only person who is responsible for these acts. So what if he is dead. He is the one and only person to blame.
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those that need to be held accountable will be held accountable. there are consequences for actions taken and not taken. the freedom of information surpasses even this campus, and i think we deserve to know the truths. even truth omitted is a lie. i whole heartedly respect the families that have filed the lawsuits. justice is impartial, not blind. and worth more than image. this article doesn't explain the entire lawsuit so before people start choosing sides, just fight and demand for truths we didn't know before and take it in. they're fighting for it. how i can ignore that?
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Just another example of not fully understanding the situation. The VTPD ERT was staged alongside the Blacksburg PD ERT at the Blacksburg PD Station. Yes, it is technically located off campus on Clay St. However, how can you not argue/understand/realize that that location, although technically off campus is closer in many regards than if they were staged on campus in some locations. Take the Copenhaver Sheep Center for example or the Dairy Science Center, both locations technically "on campus" yet further away from Norris Hall than Clay St. So don't split hairs unless you're making a truly valid claim. Learn from the past and do something productive for the future. Nothing but personal satisfaction for the families will come from a lawsuit seeking $10 million in damages from people like Chief Flinchum or President Steger.
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If it's not about the money, then why $10 million? Why not a dollar above what they would have received in the original settlement?
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Because they would then settle and just pay it. This dollar amount forces those that they feel are partially responsible for this tragedy to face the situation and answer questions.
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I second Thomas's opinion. This suit is more about money than condolence to the victims, unless they can show the money they ask for is not much more than the original settlement (maybe plus the attorney fee). Exploiting on someone's death, especially on their own children's deaths, makes me feel so disgusting. Greed...
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I do not have any training in law, but I would assume the settlement would have to be agreed upon by both parties. If the parents main concern is "revealing the truth" in court, I would assume they could reject any settlement and pursue the lawsuit. My assumptions may be incorrect, but I too smell greed...
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I agree with Thomas. More money isn't going to force cooperation. All this will do is divide and breed anger/resentment within the community. Way to rip off that scab Peterson and Pryde family.
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Read the wording of the lawsuits and read the independent panel report. If you actually inform yourself about the entire situation it will paint a very different picture for you than this PC "We Love Steger" image that the university has been selling us like popsicles on a stick for 2 years. Did the university or the state actually pull the trigger on the guns? No. But did they mess up in many many ways? Absolutely. The police made very bad assumptions, the university acted way too slowly, the counseling center lost records and was generally inept at helping Cho at all, the state had regulations that prevented Tech from knowing Cho was troubled. I could go on, but I hope you just read for yourselves.
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I don't know how you place a monetary value on life. What I do know is that virtually everything about this university structure is driven by money (faculty hiring, facilities, enrollment, class size) and the only way to hit the admin where it counts is to bring the pocketbook into it. Is $10M a lot? Sure. Will it make the university wake up? I think so. The problem is that when you sue "the state" then the burden for that falls on the taxpayers. We, the commonwealth of Virginia, are the ones who pay when our elected and appointed officials don't do a good job. When you sue the university, we the students and faculty, lose resources that could be paying for other important things. These lawsuits are unfortunately a necessary evil that must happen in order to expose the problems with our trusted officials, but it unfortunately will come at a cost to those of us they failed to help in the first place.
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I've read the lawsuit and the independent report, and all news articles I can find. I don't think anyone here is saying "we love Steger", but that the motivation behind this lawsuit is not to "uncover the truth" but greed (assuming the lawsuit does not need to be for an amount so much larger than the settlement). If the parents want to have their day in court, they have every right to. But lets call a spade, a spade here. If they are going after monetary gain because of their loss, say it, don't hide behind conspiracy hunting. Just know where that money comes from AND that the defendants in the case will probably not be affected as much as the VT community.
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I believe part of the reason the families who did settle did so for the monetary value that was agreed upon was that by Virginia law the state can only be held liable for a certain amount of money no matter what it was for. I believe it is $100,000. With this case being for $10M and assuming they win then I think only $100,000 each will come from the state and university combined. The other $9.9M will have to come from the other various defendants. I am really not certain based on the wording of the lawsuit how each party will be held accountable. Do they want more from the president than the police chief. I don't know the law well enough to know how the award would be divided in terms of individual culpability. I do believe the families will win, but I honestly sincerely doubt they will get the full amount they are asking for. When all is said and done my guess is they will get somewhere on the order of $2M + funeral, counseling, medical, and legal costs.
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Like the governor said, "I'm suprised only 2 families filed suit". Did any of you VTech cheerleaders read the lawsuit? VTech failed to follow it own security policy for immediate campus wide alert and lockdown (sirens and loudspeakers kept off). Your message to VTech Authority Figures, "Do it again cause we will let you get away with it again." Why do the editors keep suggesting the Adminstration can't speak? Not can't - won't. Mr. Hall will be taking their deps soon enough!! HaHaHa.
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VT adopted Campus and Workplace Violence Prevention Policy in June of 2005. It stresses that carrying guns on campus will get you expelled or fired. It also stresses that students found to be stalking others can and will be expelled. It seems to me that Cho was found to have stalked two women. He was never expelled or threatened with expulsion. Had he been expelled he probably would have just ended up back in Nova with his family. Would he have come back and committed a massacre? I don't know. But it is clear to all of us that VT can't and/or won't stand by their own resolutions they adopt in the name of safety.
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Shameless lawsuit. Like any college campus would have been prepared for this.
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I have to echo the sentiments of those who have pointed out that these two families are the only families that didn't take the initial settlements. Granted, no price can ever be placed on a life, but $10 million in damages seems just a tad bit greedy when 30 OTHER families settled for $100,000. Keep in mind, VT administrators didn't pull the trigger and kill 32 people. Seung-Hui Cho did. Do these people think that $10 million grows on trees? The university has already faced budget cuts from due to the present state of the economy. If they love VT as much as their slain children did, why did the financial hole even deeper??
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These families should be ashamed of themselves. What is suing Virginia Tech going to do? Driving around in your new car, celebrating your retirement is the best way to disrespect your daughters lives and deaths. Let's get real. Have some respect for your daughter's memory because right now all your doing is trashing their names with your poor decisions.
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It is worth the price to bring out the truth. Especially if more people, including students, realize that there is virtually zero safety as long as Tech has policy to expel students who carry for protection.
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not an expert at all but certain misconceptions about the law suit amount needs to be clarified. lets say rather than going the easy route and bad mouthing everyone there are few simple details. The obscene amount of money is quite possibly to get noticed (and to be high enough where Va Tech doesn't have the option to settle out of court, therefore dragging this admin through scrutiny will reveal truths otherwise kept secret) and most of the money is not actually given. Most only get half or less than half of the money asked. So before attacking anyone if you actually do care enough to react with more than just anger--look for answers yourself and demand more.
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