Criminal verdict in Mich. school shooting suggests parent vulnerability to civil negligence claims

2018 National School Walkout
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The criminal conviction of gun-owning parent Jennifer Crumbley yesterday in the 2021 school shooting in Oxford, Mich., (e.g., USA Today via Courier Journal) got me thinking about parents' exposure to civil liability.

There's no question that parents of a minor-age school shooter can be held liable indirectly for injuries and deaths upon a theory such as negligent storage or entrustment of a firearm. There have been many civil lawsuits arising from school shootings upon analogous negligence theories leveled against school officials, police, gun sellers, and gun manufacturers.

What I do not know is whether there ever has been a civil verdict against a parent. A civil liability theory follows naturally upon a criminal conviction. But criminal prosecution of parents in these cases has been exceedingly rare, Crumbley's being the first such conviction.

Without the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard having been proved already in a criminal case, the civil negligence case presents daunting hurdles in duty and proximate causation. It's never easy to hold an earlier-in-time actor liable in negligence for the intentional criminal conduct of a later actor, whom judge and jury are likely to regard as a superseding cause. Such claims are not infrequent, though, and plaintiffs keep bringing them, because intentional criminal actors tend to lack assets that would make a plaintiff whole.

Brendan Pierson for Reuters reported a rundown in 2022 of civil actions in major school shootings: Uvalde, Texas; Columbine, Colo.; Red Lake, Minn.; Blacksburg, Va.; Newtown, Conn.; Parkland, Fla.; and Santa Fe, Texas. Claims that have been resolved so far have ended with settlements or defense verdicts.

Among those cases, Pierson mentioned claims against parents only in the report on the 2018 shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. In 2023, plaintiffs in the Santa Fe case settled with ammunition retailer Luckygunner (AP). The latest report I can find on the case against the parents, from the Daily News of Galveston County, Texas, said in December 2023 that the negligence case against the parents of Dimitrios Pagourtzis remains on the trial court docket.

Please comment here if you know of a civil verdict or settlement against parents in a school shooting case. I would be curious to know also whether homeowner insurers have covered or not covered in such cases.

Federal law shields car dealer in courtesy-car accident

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A car dealership could not be held vicariously liable to a pedestrian struck by a courtesy vehicle, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in June.

A New Jersey Mercedes Benz dealer lent a customer, defendant Oke, a courtesy car while Oke's car was being repaired. After traveling to Boston (an apparent excess of the radius permitted by the courtesy-car contract), Oke left the key in the ignition, engine running, and his wife, Steele (no relation), in the passenger seat, while he attended to business. When a parking official demanded that the car be moved, Steele's attempt to do so resulted in collision with, and serious injury to, the pedestrian-plaintiff.

The laws of many states permit an injured person to pursue the owner of a vehicle in vicarious liability, regardless of the owner's fault. In a 2005 federal highway bill, Congress preempted and disallowed no-fault vicarious liability when the vehicle owner is a rental company. According to FindLaw, Congress was troubled by the likes of a $21m vicarious liability award against Budget in New York. The statutory language, "the Graves Amendment," was named for Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who estimated that vicarious liability awards cost car rental companies some $100m annually, a cost passed on to consumers.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the Graves Amendment protected the New Jersey car dealer. The courtesy-car arrangement was part of the transaction for car service, the court reasoned, so akin to a rental agreement.

The court thus dismissed claims against the car dealer. However, reversing, the court remanded the plaintiff's claim against Oke for negligent entrustment. The trial court must resolve a question of fact, the court opined, before the negligent entrustment claim can be adjudicated. The plaintiff plausibly alleged that Oke had, under the circumstances, implicitly authorized Steele to move the car if necessary.

The surviving claim based on negligent entrustment provides a worthwhile reminder that, upon other facts, the Graves Amendment does not let car rental companies off the hook for liability theories in negligence, such as negligent entrustment and negligent maintenance.

The case is Garcia v. Steele, No. SJC-13378 (Mass. June 27, 2023) (FindLaw). Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt wrote the court's unanimous opinion.