(WWJ) — The Michigan Court of Appeals has agreed with a lower court decision in dismissing a lawsuit that seeks to hold the Oxford Community School District accountable for the deadly 2021 school shooting.
In a 3-0 opinion, the court ruled that lawyers representing the families of the victims have not offered evidence that Oxford staff were the “proximate cause” of the shooting.
On behalf of the victims and their families, Ven Johnson Law filed a number of lawsuits against the district in connection with the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting that killed four students and left several other students and a teacher wounded.
The lawsuits accused the district and several school employees of negligence, gross negligence and violating the Child Protection Law, among other allegations.
Earlier this month the families’ lawyers argued to the Court of Appeals the case should be returned to Oakland County Circuit Court, where Judge Mary Ellen Brennan ruled in March 2023 that Oxford was protected governmental immunity and dismissed the lawsuits.
Officials with Ven Johnson Law tell WWJ they now plan to appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Attorneys argue that governmental immunity violates the families' right to equal protection under the law and that Oxford employees were mandated to report neglect of Ethan Crumbley under the Child Protection Law.
They also want more evidence that wasn’t previously brought to trial court to be considered.
Crumbley, 15 at the time of the shooting, killed four students — Madisyn Baldwin, Justin Shilling, Tate Myre and Hana St. Juliana — after bringing a gun his parents had bought him to school nearly three years ago.
He has been sentenced to life in prison without parole, a sentence his legal team is appealing. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter after being convicted earlier this year. Prosecutors argued the parents ignored their son’s mental health struggles and failed to safely store the gun they bought him as a present.