Abby Zwerner, a teacher shot by a six-year-old, has been awarded $10 million in her lawsuit against the principal of the school for failing to intervene when it was suspected/known that the lad had brought a loaded gun to school. It appears as if the school itself, and the school board, are off the hook as they’ve been removed as defendants from the case. So from what I can tell, she’s been awarded money from a singular defendant who is unemployed and facing prison time.
Does all of this mean that Zwerner’s award is mostly a platitude at this point? What I don’t know about enforcing civil judgments could fill several law libraries, but I imagine that the most a court could do is maybe garnish the defendant’s non-existent wages, maybe put a lien on her house?
Is there any other option for relief for Ms. Zwerner?
While she probably has few personal assets there could well be insurance coverage, both via the school district (which may provide this liability coverage as a perk) and via her membership in professional educator associations (both national and state level).
In fact it is a good possibility insurance companies are paying for the defense here. If it were me I wouldn’t be paying lawyers tens of thousands of dollars for defense in this civil case when I need tens of thousands of dollars to pay for lawyers in criminals cases–when that is all the money I have.
It’s too bad the school district got off the hook in the civil case. They’re the ones responsible for hiring and/or promoting such a terrible administrator (who was an assistant principal, by the way).
It’s possible the principal has umbrella insurance, which might pay out in this type of civil judgement. But yes, you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip as they say. If the money isn’t there, it isn’t there.
The school district most likely was removed from the case due to what’s sometimes called the “workers’ compensation bargain” - workers get benefits for on the job injuries regardless of fault and in exchange , they generally cannot sue their employer. And “sovereign immunity” may be a factor as well. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the school district won’t pay - it’s not uncommon for governnment agencies to indemnify their employees which mean they will cover the damages awarded in a civil suit against an employee. There are conditions - for example they usually will not indemnify the employee who engaged in misconduct.