New York Wrongful Death Lawyer Blog

The Commonwealth of Virginia, on behalf of Virginia Tech University, settled a 2009 wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of student Daniel Kim, in Fairfax County Circuit Court.

The gravamen of the case was the failure of the VTU "Care Team" counselors to take any action after an e-mail, warning of potential suicidal thoughts or tendencies, was sent to them by a friend of the decedent.

The university did not make any attempt to contact or speak with Kim, nor did not notify his parents of the potentially ominous e-mail warning concerning their son.

The commonwealth will pay the parents $250,000 and establish a scholorship in Kim's name. The university will change its policy on "parental notification" of students suspected of being suicidal.

Kim apparently became increasingly despondent as a result of the April 16, 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. He felt that his looks closely resembled those of the notorious shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, and therefore, people connected him with that horror. He became self-conscious of his ethnicity, and "was ashamed of being Asian".

His suicide on December 8, 2007, was eight months after the massacre.

The Ginsburg family of Boca Raton, FL, lost their son on February 17, 2010, when he jumped into the Falls Creek gorge, on the Cornell University campus.

Within four weeks, two other Cornell students, William Sinclair and Matthew Zika, jumped to their deaths into the gorge.

Suicide by students at Cornell, or elsewhere, was not uncommon, in fact, suicide is a second leading cause of death for people of high school and college age. Many times, the youthful urge to kill oneself is an impulsive act.

Over decades, suicide at Cornell University has often been accomplished by jumping into the gorges off the bridges that cross over them.

Between 1990 and 2010, 29 persons attempted suicide by jumping from the bridges into the gorges. Twenty-seven of those were successful in ending their lives. Fifteen of the twenty-seven were Cornell University students. Seventeen persons jumped from City of Ithaca owned bridges; 12 from spans owned by Cornell University.

In reaction to the three jumping suicides during the spring semester of 2010, Cornell University took immediate temporary action to fence the bridges to prevent further suicide behavior. That action is known as "means restriction", and is designed to interrupt, or impede, impulsive suicidal actions, by making them more difficult to accomplish.

Since then, after much study and consultation, and agreement with the City of Ithaca, permanent means restriction netting will be installed beneath each of the gorge bridges, acting as a deterrent to prevent convenient, "easy access" suicide from the bridges in the future.

Means restriction is not a new concept. The Empire State Building installed anti-suicide fencing on its observation deck in 1947; the library atrium at New York University was made safer by the installation of Lexan panels after two students jumped to their deaths; MIT dorm window openings were restricted after student suicides from upper floors.

The installation of means restriction devices by Cornell and Ithaca is too late for Bradley Ginsburg, William Sinclair and Matthew Zika.

The tragic death of Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers, made headlines world-wide last September, when he leaped from the George Washington Bridge, shortly after his roommate and another student used a webcam in a dorm room to "livestream" a video of a tryst involving Clementi and another man.

In accordance with New Jersey law, Clementi's family has preserved their right to sue Rutgers for wrongful death, primarily by giving the university timely notice that they may take legal action in the future.

In a notice, Clementi's family says Rutgers "failed to act, failed to put in place and/or failed to implement, and enforce policies and practices that would have prevented or deterred such acts", referring to the gross invasion of Clementi's privacy by students using the university-supplied internet connection, technology and/or equipment.

The truly responsible parties are Clementi's roommate and the other student participating in the gross invasion of his privacy. Like Clementi, they were 18 year-old freshmen at Rutgers. Both have reportedly left the university following his death. Both are charged with criminal invasion of privacy.

In my opinion, both are guilty of "felony poor judgment", "felony cruelty to another human being" and "felony infliction of emotional distress, causing death". While I am sure that no such crimes exist in the New Jersey Penal Code, I am also certain that their thoughtless and cruel actions will be with each for the rest of their lives.

Realistically, Rutgers did not fail Mr. Clementi as a student. The school could not anticipate that its internet system purchased, designed and installed for the use and benefit of the university community would be used in this manner and cause a death of a student. In my opinion, the responsible students' behavior demonstrates a depraved indifference to Tyler Clementi's life.

Rutgers has denied liability, saying: "We at the university share the family's sense of loss of their son, who was a member of our community... We also recognize that a grieving family may question whether someone or some institution could somehow have responsibility for their son's death... While the university understands this reaction, the university is not responsible for Tyler Clementi's suicide".

I agree.

It has been reported by the Northwestern (MA) District Attorney, Elizabeth Scheibel, that school officials in South Hadley High School knew of and failed to take any action concerning the bullying that resulted in the suicide of a 15 year-old high school freshman, Phoebe Prince, on January 14, 2010.

The District Attorney's investigation determined that the bullying had been "common knowledge" among students and school administrators.

There was a report of open harassment of the girl while other students and a teacher looked on. Another exchange left her weeping openly in class in front of a high school instructor.

Not surprisingly, school administration officials denied knowledge of the student's suffering, saying she never told them of the bullying and only learned of it the week before she committed suicide at home.

Their credibility is severely undermined as it is reported that Phoebe herself asked school officials to allow her to leave school as she was fearful of being beaten up. Her mother is also reported as having spoken to school administration about the abusive treatment Phoebe was subjected to by two groups of students.

It is an outrage that nothing was done to prevent the taunting, heckling, name-calling, and physical abuse she was subjected to at school over a three month period.

The legal remedies available, whether criminal charges against the 6 teens currently charged with a variety of crimes, or civil suits for wrongful death against all the offenders, including the school administration, for "wrongful act, neglect or default", are obviously inadequate and no solace for the family, nor for our society at large.

This entry based on reporting by the Boston Globe Staff.

As noted in a previous entry MIT & the Suicide of Elizabeth Shin (April, 2000), suicide is the second leading cause of death among students of university age. The number one cause of suicide for college student suicides is untreated depression.

The tragedy of loss may be compounded by the university's administration failure to effectively identify and help students who are or may be depressed and in need, and the parent's unknowing ignorance of their child's desperation.

Six Cornell students have taken their lives this academic year, three since mid-February. The three recent suicides jumped from bridges high over Fall Creek, which runs through a narrow gorge.

University officials have erected barricades on three bridges that Cornell owns, and have asked the City of Ithaca for permission to do the same on city owned structures over the gorges.

In addition, security guards have been stationed on all the bridges crossing over the gorges.

Reportedly, Cornell has consulted experts, both local and national to aid in the prevention of student suicides. All colleges should have a suicide prevention program. Unfortunately, many do not, or the one they have is inadequate.

The lack of a concerted program of depression identification and treatment and suicide prevention may expose colleges and universities to liability for wrongful death.

Elizabeth Shin, an MIT student, committed suicide by self-immolation in her dorm room in April, 2000. For years, MIT had a reputation of being a challenging educational environment for students, with a higher incidence of suicide than average for college students.

Shin's parents sued the school for wrongful death, alleging that it had failed their daughter in the delivery of mental health services rendered to her.

Their $27.65 million case settled out of court, and has had a long lasting effect on the relationship between students and their colleges. It is now recognized that schools have a duty to aid and protect their students who require help in dealing with college life.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, after accidents. Parents of suicidal students are often surprised to find out that college administrators, faculty or other personnel were aware of mental health issues with their children. Colleges have not been open to disclose mental health or substance abuse issues of their students because of privacy laws. Because of the difficulty in dealing with such problem students, many colleges choose to suspend or dismiss them. The failure of colleges to help their students with such mental health issues may result in serious liability to the schools.

In 2005, a Massachusetts court, ruling on summary judgment motions made by MIT defendants [pre-settlement], decided that college administrations and their students have a "special relationship", imposing on the school the duty to exercise reasonable care to protect their students from harm. As the school's administrators were "well aware of Elizabeth's mental problems at MIT" for a period of 18 months or so, the school was was under a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect her from harm. The administration was not proactive enough in the face her escalating problem.

It is very likely that this ruling settled the legal action.

Unfortunately, campus suicides have been increasing over the past three decades. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1,350 college students commit suicide annually.

College administrators must confront the problem student before it is too late to help. While young people have a right to privacy, and a responsibility to self-care, college communities, health care providers and parents alike share the burden of early reporting, detection or intervention for those who show signs of mental health or substance abuse problems.

Knowledge of a student experiencing a mental health (or substance abuse) problem, may result in the imposition of a "duty" on the college to protect the student from harm.