I Can't Believe That an Attorney Would Try to Benefit from the Sandy Hook Traged

what's not to believe?
there has never been a tragedy, great or small, from which someone hasn't tried to profit.
this guy won't be the last.
khairete
S.

It's not just the lawyers, sometimes the families are so greedy as well. Or in their state of shock, they are allowing themselves to be manipulated believing themselves to be doing the right thing.

Mass Tort Lawyers will always exist(it usually starts with one, and then they grab as many "willing" after they get the first one talking to the others. For those, the only one winning is the lawyers.).

The only way I will believe they are not profiteering, is if they are doing this pro-bono, and the 100 million is put into a trust fund to help other surviving children and adults(because really, the whole school were victims, as they all are traumatised by this), and other care for the remaining survivors.

Someone is greedy, and time will show if it is the lawyers or not. Read "The King of Torts" by John Grisham for perspective on those types.

Agree or disagree, as always, it's...

Just my 2cp.

So let me be clear here... you think that the attorney tracked down all the families of children who survived and asked around until he found a family that he could exploit and sue on their behalf? Is that how you think this came about?
I feel really badly for ALL the families directly affected by the horrendous murders committed that day. All the families who lost children and loved ones. And all the families who have children with horrible memories forever etched into their consciousness. There is no amount of money that can "fix" that or make those children or families whole again.

And I am not sure what the desired changes they would like to have seen in place to prevent it from happening are.... an armed guard at the school? At every school? Make all schools into prisons? Many are close to it already..

It is just like the gun control issue: I just don't think there is much you can do to prevent people from being crazy. That's why what happened there happened. The school doors were locked. The gunman shot his way in. Then proceeded to shoot those who tried to prevent his further entry. Had they been armed, then yes they might've been able to stop him. But they weren't.

The lawsuit will have to show some basis for its claim, presumably that the school system (State/Board of Education, et al) knew of the dangers and did nothing to mitigate them. I guess it depends upon what dangers they are expecting the school/Board of Education, et al to be specifically aware of to determine if they were able to do anything to mitigate them, and if so did they make attempts to do so... I'd say yes, they knew people could try to break in and do harm (in a general sense---like you know it is possible when you stand in line at the bank), and yes they took SOME reasonable steps to deter that from happening--the doors were locked. What else SHOULD they have done? That is the question. Did they not have an emergency plan to contact police? Did they NOT contact police? etc.
Your bank's doors are wide open during business hours. But they probably have cameras and other security measures in place (the classic buzzer under the counter, right?). And I am sure the tellers and other personnel are taught what to do in the event an attempt is made to rob the bank. There will be a certain protocol in place. I don't recall seeing an armed security guard the last time I was in my bank. Somehow, though, I am betting that your "average" criminal would be more nervous walking into a bank planning to do harm that walking into a school to do harm. Why is that?

Perhaps it is not a bad thing to have the "discussion" about schools preparedness for violent intruders. Not sure a lawsuit is the most appropriate way... but what are the alternatives? Right now, all the media seems to have focused on is "gun control". But what else can be done INTERNALLY? You can't stop a criminal from being a criminal. By definition they don't obey the law. But assuming you have criminals out there, what can be done by the law abiding folks to be prepared? The way I read it, even if ALL guns were banned, the basis the lawsuit is filed on would still stand---adequate precautions were not taken to protect the school/students from intruders.

Maybe it is just parents that want to be assured that their kids' schools HAVE a PLAN, like your bank does.

Maybe, these parents just feel the unquenchable need to DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Maybe they are money hungry and see this as a can't miss lottery. Maybe the lawyers are taking advantage of them in their shock. Who knows. My first thoughts were not unlike yours, only regarding the parents: How dare they? They still have their child at home! What about all the families that buried their babies... they don't seem to be suing. Where do they think the money will come from? But as I thought through it, I realized that it is very doubtful that this is about money at all. Maybe for the lawyers who really will have to spend hours upon hours preparing their case and expert witnesses and subpoenaing documents and going through discovery, etc, there is a big dollar, but there is a lot of money that must be spent to prepare a case like this, and if they lose.... And they can't file without having a claimant. Without the parents willingness, there would be no case. They are hand in hand. If you are going to ascribe motivations to the lawyers, then you can't ignore the parents. And why assume the parents motives are good but the lawyers motives are greedy? See? Why not ascribe honorable motives to the lawyers as well as the parents?

Big $$ lawsuits attract big media attention. And this would be one heckuva way to get some attention paid to what schools should be doing to secure their campuses/staff/children and what sort of preparedness/readiness they are training their staff to deal with emergencies.

It is a crying shame that school children should have to "drill" for what to do in the event of a shooting lunatic. But apparently that is what the world is coming to.

The attorney did not come up with the suit. It's not about the money, it's about enacting change and forcing the state (and all states, really) to come up with a better system for protecting our children. There are lots of ways of effecting change, but private citizens are often limited in what they can do. But I highly doubt this is some scum sucker trying to get rich.

ETA - I just have to say that these are NORMAL families. They pull their pants up every day just like everyone else. Not everybody whose children attends that school is "well off". Wealth or lack of wealth is relative. If you live in a place where your house costs $40,000 a year, you don't have to make a heck of a lot of money to pay for that house. Do you know how much it costs to live in New England? A lot of these folks in the Newtown community work in NYC and commute to bedroom communities like this in order to live in a safe community and send their kids to a normally safe school, and they spend the same percentage of their income on housing as someone living in a cheaper part of the country- it's all relative in that regard. They have the same problems with their kids that all the rest of us do - not wanting to wake up, dragging their feet getting ready for the day, etc. What do WE do when our kids do that? We run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get out the door - that's what we do. It think that it's very unfair to assign them blame as if they somehow didn't appreciate their children until this mass shooting occurred. And the family of the child who witnessed all of this and is still alive is going through hell right now. Hence the lawsuit.

As I said, I'm sure that these lawsuits will get thrown out of court. But it may make the family feel that they're doing something positive to try to handle their raw emotions. I do disagree with the lawsuit. But to assign them BLAME somehow for not loving their kids enough? I'm sputtering, I'm so shocked. Unless people actually KNOW the families involved, such a thing should not be said.

Original:

I don't think that this family is greedy. I think this family is in HORRIBLE pain and they are going through a tremendous amount of emotions right now. Anger, sadness, feeling terribly unsafe in their community. They have hired an attorney and he's bringing out the big guns. I don't believe that he will be successful. The government IS the problem, allowing the NRA to rule the roost and allow semi-automatic weapons to be sold. However, I don't think the attorney will win the suit.

That entire community is going to be a mess emotionally for a very long time. I would not judge them for any feelings they have right now. Time is the only thing that will help, and unfortunately, a lot of it. Litigation is part of it. It always is.

Dawn

Attorneys represent the people that hire them.
A surviving child's parents are bringing a lawsuit against the state for not protecting the children from "foreseeable harm."

Don't forget, sometimes good things and change comes from lawsuits.

Attonrey benefiting from tragedy....that's what some of them do.

I am disturbed by this since there was likely nothing that could have been done to foresee or prevent a crazy man from storming a school door with automatic guns. It is tragic, but this survivor's family should direct their energy towards their child that lived instead of this craziness. I'm sure this will be thrown out. This is like suing he state because the hurricane happened.

for those that think some attorneys won't go looking ... yes some do! A past co-worker had several attorneys contacting him after he was let go (for a non-just cause) .... Really think he would have won if he had decided to go for it - but I also know part of the reason he did not was he was concerned for some of us that were friends ....

Attorney benefiting from tragedy....that's what some of them do.

Yeah, I DO find it distasteful that a parent of a SURVIVING child is filing the lawsuit. However, what other method of reparations do we have in our society except for money? Nothing will bring those children and teachers back.

I have to believe that this really isn't about money as others have said. Maybe this is a starting point for a negotiation for better safety in CT schools... Maybe they will settle the lawsuit if certain security changes are made in schools...