$4B – Corporate defense spending on class action lawsuits increased to nearly $4 billion in 2023, with labor and employment claims the main driver of these lawsuits, according to Carlton Fields’ annual class action survey.
https://riskandinsurance.com/corporate-class-action-defense-spending-hits-4b-in-2023/
What can be done to reduce legal costs and the soaring costs of settlements?
First, organizations must utilize “Pre-Incident Indicators” more effectively to successfully prevent more incidents before they occur. Awareity’s client transformations are impressive.
Second, organizations must replace expensive and inefficient manual efforts with advanced, data-driven, and proven tools that empower collecting, sharing, assessing, and connecting Pre-Incident Indicators with appropriate internal and external/community resources so they can help, intervene, disrupt, and prevent increasing numbers of at-risk individuals from escalating and executing their plans and attacks. This is the new era of First Preventers and First Responders.
Third, organizations must replace outdated and manual documentation efforts with advanced and proven tools to deliver secure legal-ready documentation of pre-incident intervention and prevention actions that were taken by resources in the organization and in the community to help reduce liabilities and negligence when incidents are not prevented, because while 100% prevention is not possible, impressive Return on Prevention and Return on Value is possible.
Examples of lawsuits and settlements in Education include:
The lawsuits and settlements below were in the headlines, however many lawsuits and settlements never make the headlines, but it is likely that your legal counsel and/or external attorneys are aware of many other expensive settlements and precedents.
$9.1M – A preventable tragedy where a 12-year-old girl took her life because of bullying and school did not do enough after repeated complaints. Her family was awarded $9.1 Millon from the school district. As with most tragedies, many others were impacted by trauma, fear, distrust, and many other long-term consequences. Settlement in 2023.
https://abc7ny.com/bullying-settlement-copeland-middle-school-mallory-grossman/13577302/
$27M – A preventable tragedy where a 13-year-old boy lost his life. His family was awarded a settlement of $27 Million from the school district because officials ignored several complaints over a two-year period. As with most tragedies, many others were impacted by trauma, fear, distrust, and many other long-term consequences. Settlement in 2023.
$127.5M – In the Parkland school shooting lawsuit, the families accused the FBI of negligence. They say the bureau received tips about Cruz, including his amassing of weapons and his desire to shoot up a school, but agents failed to intervene and prevent the violence. Settlement in 2022.
Examples of pending lawsuits in Education include:
$40M – A Virginia teacher was shot by a 6-year-old student filed a $40 million lawsuit alleging school administrators shrugged off multiple warnings from staff and students who believed the boy had a gun and posed an imminent threat on the day of the shooting and did so knowing the child “had a history of random violence.”
$27B – After the Uvalde School shooting, a class action lawsuit was filed against police, city, and school officials. The lawsuit is seeking $27 billion for survivors of the May 24th attack, who continue to suffer “emotional or psychological damages as a result of the defendants’ conduct and omissions on that date.”
https://nypost.com/2022/12/03/uvalde-massacre-victims-launch-27b-class-action-suit/
Not Just Education:
$50M – According to the lawsuit against Walmart for the shooting in November 2022, the plaintiff “submitted a formal complaint” to the company in September 2022 about inappropriate behavior by the gunman. In addition, the lawsuit claims many employees and managers along with the plaintiff observed “bizarre and threatening behavior” by the gunman leading up to the shooting.