The Courthouse News Service, and several other media outlets, have reported that an attorney has asked for permission to sue the state of Connecticut for $100 million in damages, on behalf of a traumatized 6 year-old Sandy Hook elementary school student that witnessed the shooting deaths of several of her classmates.
Irving Pinsky, a Connecticut-based attorney, filed the Notice of Claim and Request for Permission to Sue with the J. Paul Vance Jr., the Connecticut Claims Commissioner.
The intended suit represents Jill Doe, six-years old, and her parents John and Jane Doe. The Does are Newton, Connecticut residents.
Due to their failure to "take steps to protect said minor child from foreseeable harm in ways including, but not limited to, failure to provide a safe school setting at Sandy Hook Elementary School" Pinsky has named the state Board of Education, the Connecticut Department of Education, and the Education Commissioner as potential defendants.
Pinsky claims that Jill Doe is suffering with psychological damage stemming from the shooting.
The event is described in the claim as: "During the morning of December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, with one or more semi-automatic weapons, including a .223 caliber Bushmaster, walked into a classroom, and proceeded to shoot and kill twenty children and six adults. Claimant-minor child Jill Doe was a student on the premises who heard all of the subject events as they were occurring, including conversations, gunfire, and screaming, and including so much of said events as were being transmitted through an intercom or public address system in the school."
Pinksy told reporters that Jill Doe lost five friends in the shooting. He also mentioned that he is anxious to file the suit before insurance adjusters attempt to lessen the damage or modify the evidence.
The claim further states, "The State Board of Education, Connecticut Department of Education, State Commissioner of Education Failed to take steps to protect minor children from foreseeable harm in ways including, but not limited to, failure to provide a safe school setting at Sandy Hook Elementary School; failure to determine whether the Newtown Board of Education had provided a safe school setting at said school; failure to take steps to insure that the Newtown Board of Education had in fact provided a safe school setting; failure to review and carefully scrutinize annual Strategic School Profile Reports of both the Newtown School District and Sandy Hook Elementary School and other submissions with respect to student safety and emergency response planning and protocol; failure to require Sandy Hook Elementary School and Newtown Board of Education to formulate and implement an effect student safety emergency response plan and protocol."
The claim now waits for Vance's approval. If it is deemed allowable then Pinsky can file the claim in court.
The Connecticut Attorney General, George Jepsen, released this statement regarding the potential lawsuit: "As attorney general, my office has a statutory obligation to defend this claim. Our hearts go out to this family, and to all the children and families affected by the Newtown shootings. They deserve a thoughtful and deliberate examination of the causes of this tragedy and of the appropriate public policy responses..."
Being traumatized by an event is grounds for a personal injury lawsuit. Contact a personal injury lawyer to help you to recover your damages.