The families and survivors of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, have agreed to settle their lawsuit against the school district for $25 million, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Seventeen people died and another 17 were wounded in the shooting on Feb. 14, 2018.
The largest settlement payments will go to the families of those who lost children or spouses in the massacre, attorney David Brill said. Brill would not provide further details of the agreement.
"It’s a fair and frankly remarkable result," Brill said. "It gives the families a measure of justice and accountability."
The terms of the settlement have been reached, but the final agreement is still being drafted, Brill said. The school district declined to comment.
"This continues to be pending litigation, which the district does not comment on," said a statement from the office of Chief Communications Officer Kathy Koch.
Once formally approved, the money would be divided among families of 52 people killed, injured, or traumatized during the shooting, according to the newspaper. It would end the more than three-year battle between the Broward County School Board and family members of the victims. The families had claimed school district negligence contributed to the shooting.
School shooter Nikolas Cruz is reportedly going to plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
Cruz's defense attorneys had sought a plea deal that would have given him life in prison without parole if the death penalty were taken off the table, but prosecutors declined the offer and a death sentence remains a possibility.
The financial settlement is "painful money" and offers little solace, said Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed.
"It’s hard to talk about money because your daughter was murdered," he said. "How could you be happy about it?"
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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