Families of three students who were victims of the tragic 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, along with a wounded former student, have come to multi-million dollar settlements in a lawsuit against the shooter. The parents of Luke Hoyer, Alaina Petty, and Meadow Pollack, who were killed in the shooting, each settled for $50 million with Nikolas Cruz, while injured student Maddy Wilford agreed to a $40 million settlement, as per court records filed recently.
Their attorney, David Brill, mentioned that the judgment amounts serve the purpose of preventing the shooter from benefiting if he ever comes into possession of money. Cruz, now 25, is currently serving 34 consecutive life sentences in an undisclosed prison after escaping the death penalty in a 2022 trial by pleading guilty to multiple charges related to the incident.
Aside from the tragic loss of 14 students and three staff members, 16 others were injured during the shooting, including Wilford. Florida law prohibits inmates from profiting from their crimes, and during Cruz’s sentencing, the judge ordered any money in his prison account to be seized to compensate the victims and cover legal costs, amounting to tens of millions of dollars.
Cruz agreed to relinquish the rights to his name and likeness to Anthony Borges, another survivor of the shooting, in a deal made in June. Brill has disputed this settlement, claiming a prior agreement with Borges’ attorney to split any proceeds from an annuity and donate them to charity. A court hearing on this matter is scheduled for the following month.
While most families and some survivors have settled lawsuits against the Broward County school district and the FBI for oversights that facilitated the shooting, a pending lawsuit against fired Deputy Scot Peterson and the sheriff’s office for neglecting to pursue Cruz is ongoing, with no trial date set yet. Peterson was acquitted of criminal charges last year.
