Federal judge allows some Oxford High School shooting lawsuits to move forward

A federal judge has ruled that civil claims against an Oxford High School counselor and the dean of students stemming from the 2021 deadly school attack can proceed against them for their alleged actions before the shooting, while dismissing claims against six other school officials.

Shawn Hopkins, a counselor at the school, and Nicholas Ejak, the high school's dean of students, will continue to face "state-created danger claims" made by multiple Oxford families and survivors of the Nov. 30, 2021, attack, including that Hopkins and Ejak pushed Ethan Crumbley closer to violent action by threatening in his presence to report his parents to Michigan's Child Protective Services in the immediate future, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith said in a 27-page ruling released Friday.

Ejak and Hopkins — who were put on leave and later reinstated — met with the teen shooter a few hours before he opened fire inside the school, killing students Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; and Justin Shilling, 17; and wounding six others and a teacher.

"The dean and counselor 'added fuel to the fire' by stating in front of E.C. that E.C.'s parents must comply with the school's directives at once, or else risk the serious consequences of being reported to law enforcement and potentially seeing their family broken apart," Goldsmith wrote.

The families, in their lawsuits against school officials and the district, allege the meeting "directly subjected E.C. to the shame, fear, humiliation, and embarrassment of having his parents ignore, ridicule, and embarrass him, thus increasing the risk of violence upon his release from the office to the school environment."

"It is a 'reasonable inference' that statements made to family members in the intimate setting of a counselor's office on a sensitive subject like proper parental care could be emotionally charged enough to affect the participants' future actions," Goldsmith added.

Goldsmith wrote that plaintiffs are entitled to learn what evidence supports their contention that Ejak and Hopkins's failure to immediately address a known risk of danger rose to the level of conscience-shocking.

"There may be 'some cases in which a court could determine that a state actor's actions did not shock the conscience at the motion-to-dismiss stage,' however, 'this is not that case,'" the judge wrote.

But the judge explained that the decision by Hopkins and Ejak to return Crumbley to class on the day of the shooting with his backpack "did not increase the risk already presented by" Crumbley himself.

"All facts indicate that E.C. came to school on November 30, 2021 prepared to commit a shooting. The risk that E.C. would do so was 'a preexisting danger,'" Goldsmith wrote.

Friday's ruling came in response to 10 lawsuits alleging the district failed to protect students and downplayed the threat Crumbley posed to the school. Oxford students and their families contend in their lawsuits that the district took actions that created or increased the danger that Crumbley presented to students and teachers.

"This is a monumental win for our clients who suffered unspeakable losses following the preventable and tragic shooting at Oxford High School," attorney Ven Johnson said. "We're one step closer to holding OCS and its employees accountable and proving in court they could have prevented this nightmare. This is also a significant victory in our fight against governmental immunity, and we'll continue to fight fiercely for our clients and the entire Oxford community."

While other claims against Oxford Community Schools also remain, those against Pam Fine, the school district's restorative practices coordinator; teachers Jackie Kubina, Allison Karpinski and Becky Morgan; former Superintendent Tim Throne; and former Oxford High School Principal Steven Wolf were dropped.

An Oxford Community Schools spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment.

The ruling, which means attorneys can continue to seek more information to try to prove their civil litigation, contrasted with Oakland County Circuit Judge Mary Ellen Brennan's decision in early March to dismiss all Oxford governmental employees and entities from the civil lawsuits related to the shooting. Brennan determined the district and its employees had governmental immunity and could not be sued.

Even if they were negligent, Brennan said, state legal precedent dictated that "no reasonable trier of fact could conclude that any of the conduct of any of the individual Oxford defendants was 'the one most immediate, efficient, and direct cause of the injury or damage' to the plaintiffs."

Some defendants dropped

Ethan's parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, had been called to the school the morning of Nov. 30, 2021, because of teachers' concerns about their son's behavior, including watching violent videos, searching for ammunition on his phone, and scrawling disturbing drawings and words on his math homework.

Crumbley explained to officials he did not pose a threat to himself or others, shot guns as a hobby and that the drawing was for a video game he was creating. Unconvinced, school officials asked the teen's parents to remove him from school and seek mental health counseling for their son. The couple refused, saying they had to work that day, and Crumbley was handed his backpack and allowed to return to class.

Less than two hours later, investigators said he pulled a handgun his parents had purchased for him earlier in the month from his backpack, exited a restroom and began shooting.

Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to 24 criminal charges in the shooting deaths of the four Oxford High School students and the wounding of six other students and a teacher.

Ethan's parents are charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter each. A three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in March that there was enough evidence to send the parents to trial.

jchambers@detroitnews.com