OAKLAND COUNTY (WWJ) - A judge dismissed multiple lawsuits brought against Oxford school district officials and its employees late Friday, citing govenemrnet immunity in the mass school shooting at Oxford High School in November of 2021.
In court documents provided by WWJ's legal analyst Charlie Langton, Oakland County Circuit Judge Mary Ellen Brennan said the school district cannot be sued and that Crumbley's actions during that day and firing the gun that killed three students and injured seven ones was the "one most immediate, efficient and direct cause of injury or damage."
It was a big blow to victims and their families, Langton said, and while the attorneys representing them want changes, those changes aren't going to happen in the courtroom.
"Governmental immunity basically precludes anyone from suing a school district. Why? Because the rules are very difficult," Langton explained. "The cause, the only main cause, has got to be whatever negligence the school district did.
And yeah, the school district — even in the opinion — they may have made some mistakes. They may have made a lot of mistakes, but the proximate cause, those are legal words meaning that the main cause of this tragedy at Oxford, was Ethan Crumbley," Langton continued, "and that's what the judge has put word-for-word into her opinion, meaning you can't sue the school district. That's not the law now."
The victims and families allege that school officials and employees violated the state's Child Protection Law when it came to concerning incidents involving Crumbley. The Child Protection Law requires the reporting of child abuse and neglect by certain persons and the protection of children who are abused or neglected.
The lawsuits claimed that school officials and employees, who knew about the incidents, were grossly negligent and the direct cause of injury — but Brennan ruled they were not.
"The Court concludes that Ethan Crumbley was 'the proximate cause" of the Plaintiffs' injuries for purposes of governmental immunity, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs' claim for violation of the Child Protection Law is barred by governmental immunity," the judge ordered.
Crumbley faces life in prison after pleading guilty to all 24 charges filed against him, including terrorism, causing death and first-degree murder.
His parent's, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were also charged with involuntary manslaughter.
