Collegiate Times

Related: A copy of the lawsuit (PDF) filed by Daniel Kim's parents.

As university and Cook Counseling Center officials prepare for a civil suit filed by April 16, 2007 victims’ families, several are now implicated in a suit filed by the parents of a Virginia Tech student who committed suicide in December 2007.

The suit, filed Friday in Fairfax County Circuit Court, seeks $43 million in damages from Tech’s “Care Team” in connection with the suicide of Daniel Kim, who was a senior at the time of his death. The care team consisted of James Thomas Brown, dean of students; Vicki Arbuckle, assistant director of psychiatric services; and Christopher Flynn, director of Cook Counseling Center.

The lawsuit alleges Tech ignored warnings about Kim’s mental health. It cites a letter written by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate Shaun Pribush, who was a student at the time, warning Tech officials that Kim was suicidal.

Pribush’s letter, written a month prior to Kim’s death, said Kim had already attempted suicide. Pribush never met Kim in person, as they met and became friends through World of Warcraft. He knew little about Kim, but communicated with him frequently via instant messenger.

“He told me a lot of things about how he was depressed and wanted to kill himself, and he was really serious about it. The first time he said it, I kind of let it go but then he said he had already tried it,” Pribush said Monday. “What he was saying really warranted me looking up who to contact at his school and sending them something. I felt it was an appropriate measure to contact the counseling center.”

Pribush received what he called a “pretty quick response,” after sending the message. He worked with Tech Police Lt. Curtis Cook to narrow down which Daniel Kim at Tech he was referring to, as there were six enrolled at the time.
Cook’s last e-mail to Kim said the police were concerned about Kim and wanted to provide him with assistance.

Pribush had no further communication with police or university officials. Kim later told Pribush that police had come to his residence and asked if he knew Pribush. Kim said he did not, but police never contacted Pribush after the visit.
Kim’s parents were not advised on the matter, according to the suit. In “Father feels suicide could have been prevented” (CT, Jan. 24), Kim’s father, William Kim, said he was unaware of his son’s mental state.

"Some of his friends say they thought he was depressed, some say they knew he was depressed but I didn't know that, my daughter didn't know that; I had no clue," William Kim said.

The suit accuses the university of “not making any attempt to communicate directly with Daniel or have him speak with a school counselor or psychologist, and without any attempt to consult Daniel’s parents.”

It also said Tech’s Care Team manual at the time required the psychologist on call to see any student who had “made an actual suicide attempt and/or any gesture or reference to suicide.”

In addition to $43 million in damages, William and Elizabeth Soon Jee Kim want the university to assist with the passage of the Daniel Kim Act, which would “require all public universities in (Virginia) to notify parents when a threat to the safety of their children is present.”

Hall, Sickels, Frei & Mims, the law firm representing the families of the April 16, 2007 campus shooting victims Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson, will represent the Kim family.

The Pryde and Peterson families filed identical lawsuits against university and state officials in April seeking $10 million in damages as a result of Seung-Hui Cho’s shootings, which killed 32 people.

Initial hearings in that case begin Dec. 14 in Montgomery County Circuit Court.