Fort Lauderdale, Florida — Families of three students killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and a former student who was hurt have settled their lawsuits against the shooter for millions of dollars, though their lawyer says it’s unlikely they will ever get much money.
Newly filed court records show that the parents of Luke Hoyer (15), Alaina Petty (14), and Meadow Pollack (18) all reached settlements with Nikolas Cruz worth $50 million each. Maddy Wilford, who was hurt, also agreed to a $40 million payout.
Thursday, their lawyer, David Brill, said, “The main reason for the judgment amounts is that if the killer ever gets his hands on money, we could execute on the judgments and get it, which would stop him from buying any comforts.”
Cruz, who is 25 years old, is serving 34 straight life sentences at a prison that has not been named. He avoided the death penalty in 2022 and is now in prison. He agreed to be guilty of 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder in 2021.
Along with the 14 students who were killed, three staff members also died in the killing, and Wilford was hurt along with 16 other people.
Florida law already says that prisoners can’t keep any money they get from their crimes, including any words or art they make while they’re locked up. However, when Cruz was given his sentence, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer also said that any money put into his jail commissary account should be taken away and used to pay the victims’ families and all court and investigation costs.
That would add up to tens of millions of dollars.
In June, Cruz agreed with former student Anthony Borges, who was badly hurt and gave him the rights to his name and likeness. He has to permit Cruz before he does interviews. It’s also possible for Borges to get $400,000 from a pension Cruz got before the killings.
Brill is disputing that settlement, saying that he and Borges’ lawyer agreed over the phone that any money from the annuity would be split between them and given to causes of their choice. Next month, there will be a court meeting about that dispute.
Most of the people who died and some of the people who were hurt had already settled claims against the Broward County school district and the FBI for mistakes that let the shooting happen on February 14, 2018.
Families and survivors of the victims are still suing fired Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson and the sheriff’s office for not going after Cruz. There is no set date for the hearing. The criminal charges against Peterson were dropped last year.
