Judge rules Michigan school employees shielded from lawsuit alleging negligence ahead of deadly mass shooting

Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Mary Ellen Brennan has dismissed all governmental employees and entities from civil lawsuits relating to the Oxford High School shooting.

In an order released on Friday, Brennan upheld that governmental immunity applies to all Oxford school employees and other parties named in the suit filed in March 2022 by families of the victims.

Ven Johnson, the attorney for the families, contended there were exceptions to Oxford’s governmental immunity defense in this case and school employees should be held accountable for the actions of Ethan Crumbley, who has pleaded to murder and terrorism charges in the deaths of four students and injuries to seven others.

“When plaintiffs allege claims against defendant Oxford Community Schools for gross negligence and vicarious liability, such claims do not fall within any of the six recognized exceptions,” Brennan said in the ruling. “The school district is immune from tort liability for the claims alleged against it in the complaint.”

Under Michigan law, government agencies and their employees are generally not liable for their negligent acts, if those acts were performed within the scope of their governmental function or employment.

“The court concludes that Ethan Crumbley’s act of firing the gun, rather than the alleged conduct of the individual defendants, was ‘the one most immediate, efficient and direct cause of injury or death,’” Brennan wrote.

Ethan and his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, remain as defendants in the lawsuit.

“On behalf of our Oxford clients, we are deeply saddened and disappointed by Judge Brennan’s dismissal today of all the Oxford community schools defendants,” Johnson said after the ruling. “We maintain that governmental immunity is wrong and unconstitutional, and the law should be changed immediately. This is a terrible day for our clients, who understandably feel that the law has victimized them all over again.”

Johnson said there are options he will be looking into as the case proceeds.

“The inherent unfairness of governmental immunity should be crystal clear now to the world,” said Johnson. “It is extremely disappointing that we could not even get this to a trial, and we still have not been able to do any discovery.”

Nicholas Ejak, dean of students; Kimberly Potts, an Oxford schools security guard; counselors Shawn Hopkins and Pam Parker Fine; teachers Becky Morgan, Jacqueline Kubina and Allison Karpinski; and Oxford Community Schools were named as defendants in the suit.