DETROIT — Oxford Community School officials will claim they are immune from a $100 million lawsuit filed by survivors of the nation's deadliest school shooting since 2018 that left four students dead and seven people wounded, according to a federal court filing Wednesday.
The strategy was revealed by school district lawyer Timothy Mullins in a legal response seeking to block the issuance of subpoenas that would give lawyers for two survivors access to surveillance footage and other evidence from the Nov. 30 shooting.
The school district should not have to provide any information, the lawyer argued, until U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith decides whether Oxford officials, including Timothy Throne and High School Principal Steven Wolf, teacher and counselors are protected by qualified immunity.
"Defendants will immediately file motions based on qualified immunity, making discovery improper at this stage," Mullins wrote. "Plaintiffs are advancing constitutional claims against individual defendants in their individual capacity, that are barred by qualified immunity."
The filing came six days after sisters Riley Franz, 17, an Oxford High School senior, and Bella Franz, 14, a freshman, filed the $100 million lawsuit. Riley was shot in the neck while next to Bella as they exited a restroom during the attack.
The complaint — the first in what legal experts anticipate will be a flurry of complaints — alleges school officials knew accused shooter Ethan Crumbley posted threatening comments on social media but failed to protect fellow students and downplayed the danger.
Letting survivors obtain discovery through subpoenas is premature, Mullins wrote.
"When qualified immunity is raised as a defense, the Supreme Court’s instructions are clear: until the 'threshold immunity question is resolved, discovery should not be allowed,'" Mullins wrote.
"This is so because qualified immunity is not just a defense to liability, but a shield against the burden of facing trial and 'other burdens of litigation,' including 'broad-reaching discovery.'"
Immunity is a high threshold in legal cases, Royal Oak lawyer Todd Flood has told The Detroit News.
“One of the ways to overcome governmental immunity is by showing deliberate indifference and that it was a state-created liability with gross negligence,” Flood said. “That is the biggest hurdle.”
Flood represents several women in a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University that alleges officials covered up dozens of sexual assaults.
“With all of the facts that have been laid out, it is clear to me that this was a state-created liability,” Flood said. “They had all of the tools to prevent this and were in a very unique position to stop this had they just used reasonable care.”
The lawsuit accuses school officials of failing to stop an attack that inflicted physical and psychological injuries on students and spreads the blame among the highest-ranking Oxford school officials along with unidentified teachers and counselors.
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