The Moriarity lawsuit is just the latest in a series of complaints stemming from the UAH shootings. In January, lawsuits were filed on behalf of the families of Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson, two professors who were killed in the shootings at a UAH biology faculty meeting. The lawsuits name Bishop, her husband James Anderson, and university Provost Vistasp Kharbari as defendants. Reports the Huntsville Times:
(The) lawsuits argue that had Karbhari followed policy, Bishop would have been assisted by counselors who would have confirmed her "dangerous instability" and investigated by UAH police, who would have discovered her history of violence. Regulations dealing with mental health emergencies "would have prevented her from attending the staff meeting of people she had threatened," the suit claims.
The lawsuit details a number of complaints about Bishop, her frustrations about not being granted tenure and the steps university policy requires in dealing with mental health emergencies and psychological crises.
Douglas Fierburg, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer for the Davis and Johnson families, is with a firm that represented victims' families in the Columbine and Virginia Tech school shootings.
Joseph Leahy and Stephanie Monticciolo, who were wounded but survived the UAH shooting, filed a lawsuit in November against Bishop and her husband. Those complaints list several fictitious defendants, meaning a number of individuals or entities could be added to the case.
Gopi Podila, chair of biology department at the time, was the third person killed in the UAH shootings. So far, we've seen no reports of a lawsuit filed on behalf of his family. According to various news reports, Podila supported Bishop's bid for tenure, but he was overruled. Lawyers for victims and families are likely to examine a process where the opinion of the department chair, the person who should have been most familiar with the quality of Bishop's work, did not hold sway on a tenure matter.
How will these lawsuits proceed? Litigation always is difficult to predict, but the Virginia Tech case might give some clues.
Twenty-one families involved in the Virginia Tech tragedy settled with the university for $11 million in April 2008. That settlement came before a lawsuit had been filed. The families of Julia Kathleen Pryde and Erin Nicole Peterson opted out of the settlement and filed a lawsuit that has moved into the discovery stage. A judge ruled last November that Virginia Tech officials were not protected by sovereign immunity, and a trial is set for September 2011.
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