DETROIT — A lawyer for Oxford High School and district staff asked a federal judge to dismiss civil lawsuits filed in connection with one of the nation's deadliest campus shootings, claiming officials were not fully responsible and have qualified immunity shielding them from liability.
"Plaintiffs have not established that any defendant knew of the specific risk of harm facing plaintiffs — that (suspect Ethan Crumbley) had a gun and would shoot students in the school," attorney Timothy Mullins wrote in the 84-page document filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.
The motion focuses on arguments raised in lawsuits filed by the families of victims and survivors in the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting that left four students dead and wounded six others as well as a teacher.
Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty in October to all 24 criminal charges, including terrorism causing death and first-degree murder, which carry up to life in prison. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, face involuntary manslaughter charges.
Mullins' request notes that there have been 10 suits filed naming as defendants Oxford Community Schools leaders such as former Superintendent Timothy Throne and school staff. Many accused them of gross negligence.
Lawyers and parents in the cases have repeatedly said employees should have seen warning signs about Crumbley's behavior and taken greater actions to prevent the shooting.
Mullins rejected those arguments in his motion Thursday.
"Plaintiffs admit that the danger EC posed existed long before any defendants’ involvement. Plaintiffs mostly argue, with the benefit of hindsight, that more should have been done. But alleged failures to do more are not actionable constitutional violations," he wrote.
Much of his filing concerned Crumbley's parents, who were summoned to the school hours before the shooting after a math teacher reported their son drew disturbing images on his assignment depicting blood and bullets.
He returned to class with his backpack after the Crumbleys allegedly declined to remove him from school.
Mullins argued that "nothing about what the individual defendants knew could have put them on notice that (Crumbley) posed the specific risk of shooting multiple students. ... There is no suggestion that EC had a known longstanding history of disciplinary issues, issues with other students, threatening behavior, or violence towards others."
He said it was "questionable whether any employee, with the facts they knew, had a right to search" Crumbley, who had a right to an education.
Mullins added that it was "undisputed" that his clients responded to concerns about Crumbley in some way.
"When each of his teachers saw something, they immediately reported it. Immediately upon receiving these reports, EC was spoken to by his counselor twice, his parents were called, and outside therapy was recommended. No one can claim with a scintilla of support that the employees were not attempting to help this student with such troubles as were perceived."
Addressing other claims in shooting-related litigation, Mullins said district employees' conduct did not violate a “clearly established” constitutional right, so they are entitled to qualified immunity.
Attorney Wolfgang Mueller represents the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, one of the four slain teens, and Sandra Cunningham, whose daughter, Phoebe Arthur, survived gunshot wounds to her neck and cheek in the shooting. Reached Thursday night, he called Mullins' motion "wrong on the law and the facts."
"This is a motion that is best brought after the parties have obtained all of the relevant testimony from the school employees who were aware of Crumbley’s downward spiral," he told The Detroit News in an email.
“The motion is just another ploy from the defense to delay justice for the families involved. It doesn’t help in what should be a collective effort to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Instead of hiding behind legal defenses like governmental immunity, the lawyers should help to develop policies and training to address mental illness in the school environment."
Geoffrey Fieger, the lawyer who filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit last year on behalf of two sisters who survived the shooting, also criticized the move.
"It won't succeed. Premature," Fieger said in a text message to The Detroit News. "There has been no discovery. It's lawyers for Oxford billing the insurance companies. Who would do that at (Christmas) except lawyers bilking the insurers?”
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(Staff writer Robert Snell contributed to this story.)
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