Posted on 08/17/2005 3:43:58 PM PDT by ElCapusto
The family of a teenage boy slain last year at Southwood Middle School could receive as much as $1.7 million from the Miami-Dade school district in a settlement approved today by the School Board, The Herald has learned.
Jaime Gough, an eighth-grader, was killed on Feb. 3, 2004 in a bathroom of the Palmetto Bay school. His classmate, 15-year-old Michael Hernandez, has been charged with the murder.
Gough's parents sued the district for wrongful death.
Under the terms of the district deal, the Gough family will immediately receive $700,000 -- $200,000 from the School Board and $500,000 from the district's insurance carrier.
The state Legislature must pass a special bill before the district can release the additional $1 million. The settlement is contingent upon the district supporting such a law, but not upon its approval. If the Legislature fails to sign off before the end of 2008, the settlement would be limited to $700,000.
The settlement deal must be formally approved this afternoon at the School Board's monthly meeting, but numerous sources confirmed the board members voted for it at a closed-door executive session earlier today.
That meeting was not subject to Florida's open-meetings law because it was subject to attorney-client privilege with the district's lawyers, and the sources familiar with that meeting requested anonymity to avoid publicly violating that privacy.
And the school district is coughing up 1.7 million?
Utterly disgraceful!
$1.7 Million is adult money, the 15 year old should reimburse the state by riding the lightning.
Capital suggestion. (As in capital punishment.)
How the heck was the school at fault? Oh, maybe the school should have had a teacher monitor all stalls .... um, no they'd have been sued for privacy and perverted teachers. The school obviously couldn't win so coughed up a few million before the price went up. So, what do the tax payers say to their money being frittered away?
How much do the lawyers get out of this?
"It's not about the money"... Why do they always say that. I bet Michael Hernandez parents didn't have homeowners insurance. How was the school liable ? didn't walk the kid to bathroom.
Congratulations to the Gough family who will now find closure, and the lawyer who will pocket forty percent of the settlement. American justice has once again been served.
What the hell?
The district just decided to blow it's funds needlessly.
Perhaps they have enough children left to really make some big bucks.
There's always ambulance chasing lawyers hanging around toilets.
Most are renters...they could care less.
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