COLUMBINE LAWSUIT MAY GO BEYOND SHOOTERS' PARENTS |
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by CNN Lawyers, Guns and Hush Money -- Burying the Truth at Columbine May 27, 1999 DENVER (CNN) -- A lawsuit filed Thursday, accusing the parents of Columbine High School student gunmen Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris of failing to supervise their children, will be expanded to other defendants, said the plaintiffs' attorney. "This lawsuit is about duty, this lawsuit is about accountability, this lawsuit is about responsibility," said attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who filed the lawsuit in Denver on behalf of Michael and Vonda Shoels. The Shoels' son Isaiah, an 18-year-old Columbine senior, died in the April 20 gun and bomb assault at the school. Feiger said the suit does not mention a damage figure, but said that the parents were suing for up to $250 million. Fieger said he intends to amend the lawsuit later to add other defendants that he believes were responsible in some way for the massacre in the Denver suburb of Littleton. Harris, 18, and Klebold, 17, killed a dozen classmates and a teacher and wounded 23 students before they committed suicide. "This is not about money," Fieger said. "This lawsuit is about negligence." The suit maintains that Klebold and Harris could not have developed and executed the attack without the negligence of their parents. "We're talking about two high school students constructing 50 bombs over a period of time, moving them into a school, having gun barrels in plain view on their dresser at the point of which the police entered Harris' home," Fieger said. Lawyer considers strategies "Responsibility for violence sometimes extends beyond the person who actually pulls the trigger," Fieger said. "It sometimes extends to those who contribute to individual acts of violence."
Isaiah, who played football for another school in the area before transferring to Columbine High School, excelled at sports, his father says Fieger noted the recent Supreme Court decision allowing a school to be held liable for failing to protect a student after school officials were repeatedly informed that the student was being sexually harassed. When asked if he planned to sue the makers of video games with violent themes on the theory that they influenced Harris and Klebold to carry out the massacre, Fieger said he planned to consider that issue. But he added that he only pursues cases he thinks he can win. "That (video game responsibility) is going to be a far bigger first amendment problem than the Jenny Jones case," Fieger said, referring to the talk show he successfully sued after a guest with a history of mental instability was embarrassed on the show, and later shot another guest who had described homosexual fantasies. Plan to challenge financial limits Fieger said he hoped to set financial precedents with the case. He blamed the insurance industry for Colorado's $250,000 limit on damages that can be awarded against non-governmental defendants. And he said it was wrong that governmental agencies such as schools could only be held liable for $150,000 in damages. The Shoels said their legal action was not motivated by money. "No money, no nothing, can ever bring my son back," said Michael Shoels. "This is not about money, this is about change, and that's what I'm looking for." Should the Shoels win their case, the award money will not be donated. "I promise you, this money will be used properly for my son and other children threatened by this organization that they say is just two kids ... which we all know is not right," Michael Shoels said, referring to the Trenchcoat Mafia, the name of a group that included Harris and Klebold. "Three days before I buried my son, there was a guy with a long trench coat standing in my yard," Shoels added. The Shoels said they have moved out of Jefferson County because of harassment and vandalism at their home since the shooting. Isaiah Shoels, a popular athlete, was the only black victim of the massacre. His parents maintain he was singled out because of his race. In interviews since the killings they have spoken out against racial hatred and urged parents to take more responsibility for their children. There was no immediate comment on the lawsuit from the gunmen's parents, Wayne and Katherine Harris and Thomas and Susan Klebold.
By Carl Hilliard May 28, 1999 DENVER — The family of one of the students slain in the Columbine High massacre sued the parents of the teen-age gunmen for $250 million Thursday, accusing them of negligence. Attorney Geoffrey Fieger filed the lawsuit in state court on behalf of the parents of Isaiah Shoels, 18, who witnesses said was gunned down because he was black and an athlete. "Responsibility for violence sometimes extends beyond the person who pulls the trigger," Fieger said. "It sometimes extends to those who contribute to individual acts of violence." The lawsuit names Wayne and Katherine Harris, and Thomas and Susan Klebold, whose sons hurled bombs and blasted away with guns inside Columbine on April 20, killing 12 students and a teacher. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold then committed suicide. A spokeswoman for the Klebolds' lawyer had no comment. An attorney for the Harrises did not immediately return a call. Investigators have said Harris, 18, and Klebold, 17, had planned the attack for more than a year. In the Harris home, investigators found bomb-making materials and a diary that described how the massacre would be carried out. And the sawed-off barrel of a shotgun was lying on a dresser in Harris' bedroom. Shortly after the attack, Sheriff John Stone wondered how the young men's activities could have gone unnoticed and said: "I think parents should be accountable for their kids' actions." The lawsuit alleges the parents failed to take corrective action when their sons stockpiled guns and bombs, and gave them "extraordinary privileges" despite their run-ins with the law. The parents "had a duty to not act negligently and to not expose others to the unreasonable risk of harm by such negligence," the lawsuit says. Although courts have ruled parents can be held liable for such things as property damage done by their children, this type of case is much more difficult to prove, legal analysts said. "What we're talking about is an intentional, deliberate, criminal act," said Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz. "It would probably be illegal to hold parents responsible for their children's actions unless you can show some specific fault on the part of the parents." Attorney Andrew Cohen of Denver, a legal analyst for the news media, said Fieger would have to prove the parents should have known their teenagers were arming for an attack. "It may turn out that they knew their kids weren't angels. That's a very far stretch from proving the attack would take place," Cohen said. During a news conference, Fieger, who represented Dr. Jack Kevorkian and who sued talk-show host Jenny Jones, repeatedly said the case "is not about money." The amount was set "so that you will pay attention to the symbol, because it is a symbol, and so we can effectuate another change in this state," he said. Colorado law puts a $250,000 limit on damage awards for negligence caused by a minor. Fieger said if he wins the case, he will file an appeal to exceed the limit. Fieger claimed Colorado has been influenced by an insurance industry that controls the Legislature and the governor's office. He contended the insurance company "has bought and paid for them (and) has valued human life at less than what a minor league ballplayer makes in major league ball." In a related development, 13 crosses honoring the Columbine victims that were installed at a park near the school were re-erected Thursday to the Chapel Hills Memorial Gardens cemetery, where four victims were buried. They were moved because the public park could not have a permanent memorial bearing religious symbols.
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