School Shooting Victims’ Kin Settle Suit

PADUCAH, Ky. —  The families of the three girls killed in the Heath High School shootings have agreed to a $42-million settlement offer from the lawyers for the teenager who killed them.

On Wednesday, attorneys for Michael Carneal, who opened fire in the school’s lobby on Dec. 1, 1997, offered to settle and on Thursday afternoon, plaintiffs’ attorney Mike Breen issued a statement saying the families of Jessica James, Kayce Steger and Nicole Hadley had accepted. Five other students were wounded.

The settlement is largely symbolic, though. Carneal has no assets and whether the families would be able to collect any money is uncertain. His family’s insurance company, Kentucky Farm Bureau, has insisted in court motions it is not liable for his actions.

The parents of the three girls originally filed a lawsuit that named more than 50 defendants, including the boy’s parents, school administrators and entertainment companies. A judge had subsequently removed everyone but Carneal from the lawsuit.

The 17-year-old Carneal, who has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the shootings, is being held at a juvenile detention center in western Kentucky.

Breen said the lawsuit was never about money.

“The primary goal of the families when they filed suit was to learn as much as possible about why Michael Carneal shot eight students,” Breen said.

The settlement agreement was not yet official. Circuit Judge Will Shadoan, who dismissed the other defendants, was presiding over another case on Thursday and had not signed it, his secretary said.

Mark Pierce, a Paducah attorney who represents Carneal, said he believed it would be unethical to comment on the case until the judgment was signed. Another Carneal attorney, Dennis Courtney, did not return a telephone call.

Breen said the families hoped this case set legal precedents for other school shootings, most notably incidents in Jonesboro, Ark., and at Columbine High School in Colorado.