<p>[U.S</a>. News - Jury says Virginia Tech negligent for delays in warnings about 2007 shootings](<a href=“http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/14/10688290-jury-says-virginia-tech-negligent-for-delays-in-warnings-about-2007-shootings]U.S”>http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/14/10688290-jury-says-virginia-tech-negligent-for-delays-in-warnings-about-2007-shootings)</p>
<p>I don’t agree with this decision.</p>
<p>No win when you are dealing with a crazy person. Have to treat them with kid gloves–until they do something criminal. But at least they only get $100K from the state. More symbolic than real.</p>
<p>I couldn’t imagine another verdict. Everything I read and heard about the case led me to believe that they absolutely were negligent. I’m just sorry that the state has decided that these children are worth no more than $100k. I don’t think the parents did it for the money so that won’t matter, but their belief that their child might still be alive had the school reacted properly has been validated and that must give them some tiny bit of comfort.</p>
<p>I’m not in favor of lawsuits in general. I think that the largest benefactor of the vast majority of lawsuits in this country are attorneys (my apologies to the attorneys on here) and individual people rarely get significant benefit.</p>
<p>When I read that someone in small claims court won $850 from AT&T, and no attorneys are involved, I think that is a far greater victory than thousands of other lawsuits.</p>
<p>With respect to the current one, I can’t weigh in as I haven’t read the verdict nor am I familiar with the issue.</p>
<p>That opinion likely comes from the characterization of plaintiffs’ attorneys by those who have an agenda. The vast majority of plaintiffs’ attorneys make very little money after they pay the exorbitant expenses of handling a case. Yes, there are the millionaires but they are a small percentage. Unfortunately, without lawsuits, there is very little incentive for bad actors to change their ways. Lawsuits have been responsible for huge changes that have been beneficial to both individuals and society as a whole. Most injured parties are not able to find attorneys to take their cases because the attorneys will lose money. You don’t hear about them. The tales of big awards for nuisance suits - mostly myths. If you are bothered by the money the plaintiffs’ attorneys make, you don’t even want to know how much money the defense attorneys make.</p>
<p>Well, Cartera, I repect your opinion on this, and will bow to your expertise.</p>
<p>For me, I sometimes think the only one responsible for a crime is the criminal, but I do see your perspective.</p>
<p>[Virginia</a> Tech admits errors in shooting timeline | WSLS 10](<a href=“http://www2.wsls.com/news/2012/mar/08/virginia-tech-admits-errors-in-shooting-timeline-ar-1751075/]Virginia”>http://www2.wsls.com/news/2012/mar/08/virginia-tech-admits-errors-in-shooting-timeline-ar-1751075/)</p>
<p>This little mistake (coverup) didn’t help. My niece was a freshman in West Ambler when the murders occurred. She called me not long after it happened. I asked her what the school was telling them to do and she wasn’t getting any guidance. I told her to stay put, even if the school wasn’t telling her not to go to class. When two students have been shot and the shooter is on the loose, how do you make any decision except to tell kids to lock doors and stay wherever they are? They had 2 and 1/2 hours between the first shootings and the second round. The kids were not even told that a gunman was on the loose so they could consider the risk. If my child had been killed, they would have had to chain the doors to the President’s office. The kids there are largely protective of the school and the administration. The parents I know with kids there were furious.</p>
<p>My kid was there, cartera, and I was not furious. I was sad, distraught, devastated. I was not looking for anyone to blame other than the crazy person who had the gun. Oh, and the media who kept flashing his picture on my television screen.</p>
<p>If you think you would have done any better on the day, more power to you. </p>
<p>I can tell you that at graduation a mere three weeks later, the STUDENTS led a standing ovation for Charles Steger.</p>
<p>Tiredofsnow, Thank you for your perspective. As a longtime Virginia resident, most people I knew were very shocked and upset . I can’t even imagine actually having a child there at the time. My son was at UVa at the time and I had a friend call upset asking if he was okay. She heard Virginia and engineering and was worried. I thanked her for calling and was able to tell her he was okay because he was in engineering but at UVa ,not Virginia Tech. My younger son is at Virginia Tech now. Lots of people in Virginia that day knew lots of people who were alumni or had kids there or had friends there. Hindsight is always easy. Mistakes were made, I’m sure. Virginia Tech and other schools have learned from this horrific incident. When the shootings occurred at the psychiatric center at Pitt recently, the police used a response that was implemented from things learned from the Virginia Tech shootings.</p>
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<p>I said that there was much support for Steger. They rallied together and I commend that. I’m glad the students were able to do that and still stand together. The anger I have heard and experienced came later - after the facts came out and much longer than 3 weeks later. Some of the facts would not have come out if it were not for this lawsuit. The problem with the timeline is an example. I never said I could have done better but they could have and they know it. They knew it the minute there were shots fired at Norris Hall. They had already done better. They cancelled classes and closed the campus the first day of classes that fall after a shooting.</p>
<p>Thanks, sevmom. I have a son at VT now, too. I think seeing the community unite after the tragedy underscored his desire to attend.</p>
<p>I do think that valuable lessons were learned at great cost. </p>
<p>I’m sure President Steger and the rest of the VT family wish that things would have turned out much differently that cold April day. For anyone to suggest otherwise is heartbreaking to me. </p>
<p>(My husband and I are both Wahoos, by the way. Although I haven’t lived in Virginia for a very long time, it is still home.)</p>
<p>cartera, just saw your last post. I understand what you are saying. I would just say that some compassion for those in charge on that day, making those decisions in confusing circumstances to the best of their ability WITH WHAT THEY KNEW, might be in order. It is easy to sit back 5 years later and say that things could have been done differently - of course they could have. </p>
<p>I don’t share your view that blaming is the best way to go about making changes. Thankfully, I am not that familiar with the legal side of things and can’t say I share the same high opinion of lawsuits that you do. If the verdict gives the parents some measure of comfort, that is in itself a good outcome. </p>
<p>Bottom line: I think that the administrators that were there that day would give everything they have if they could make things turn out differently.</p>
<p>cartera, Alot has been learned from what happened at Virginia Tech. I think the parents had a right to file a lawsuit if they felt that was what they needed to do . What happened that day was unprecedented though. I’m sure they did know the minute that shots were fired at Norris Hall that they had misread the situation and I’m sure those involved live with that every day.</p>
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<p>Who has suggested that they wouldn’t want things to be different? Of course they would. I don’t doubt that they would put themselves in the line of fire if it would have saved a life that day. Heck I would. If I could make a deal to trade places with those kids who died that day, I would do it - without hesitation. It was unprecedented but the magnitude of it was irrelevant to the lawsuit. Even if only one student had been killed after the initial shootings, it is reasonable that that student should have at least been given the choice to lock his or her door and stay out of class that day. How? By telling that student the truth - that two people had been shot and killed on campus and the shooter had not been caught. Was it foreseeable that Cho would kill over 30 people? No. Was it foreseeable that someone who had already killed two students in a dorm might hunt down more? The jury thought so.</p>
<p>Edited to add - of course we can have compassion for the people who were there that day in the chaos. They may have done the best they could, but did they live up to the legal standard of care? That standard of care is pretty high with regard to schools. They are expected to make the decisions regarding the safety of our children that we would make. I believe that this verdict could have a positive impact. If it stops an official from making assumptions before the facts are all known, then that is a good thing and may save lives in the future.</p>
<p>Alot of the newer standards to alert are because of what happened at places like Virginia Tech. Colleges now are more careful to text, email ,alert at the first sign of concern, even if the concern ends up being unfounded. Schools shut down because someone thinks they saw something suspicious,etc. Kids feeling more empowered to report strange behavior . Even with all the systems in place in the world though, there can always be another person like Cho out there who unfortunately may very well not be able to be stopped.</p>
<p>Yes, some good changes are in place. They have to err on the side of caution. When the most recent shooting took place, they were quick to shut things down. Some on campus thought they went overboard and kept things locked down a little too long after determining what happened. My niece is still there in graduate school. One of her professors didn’t cancel class. She couldn’t go to class. She wanted to hide. She found herself right back in 2007 having learned that 2 people in her dorm were killed.</p>
<p>cartera, I am not a lawyer, and I don’t enjoy arguing. So I will bow out after saying that I don’t read any compassion at all in your posts, only self-righteousness, and reading your words is making me relive a day that was the most horrible one I have ever lived. Of course, those parents who lost their children relive it every single day.</p>
<p>I think we can both agree that those students and those parents will be carried in our hearts until the day of our own deaths. </p>
<p>sevmom, you’re absolutely right. Thanks for your understanding and your insights.</p>
<p>PTSD would be common in that kind of situation,cartera. Your niece may have had the same reaction to the more recent events (having lived through 2 people being killed in her dorm) regardless of whether or not Cho had gone on later to kill many more people in Norris Hall. I’m sure the initial events in her dorm were traumatizing enough. I’m very sorry that she has gone through all that and hope she is doing okay.</p>
<p>I join sevmom in wishing your niece the very best, cartera.</p>
<p>Thank you for your thoughts.</p>
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<p>States have sovereign immunity which means they cannot be sued without their permission. Va. does not have to allow any suits against it. The 100K limit is for every personal injury lawsuit not just the ones at VA tech so it is unfair and wrong to say that the state decided that the children are worth no more than $100K.</p>