Court Rules Va. Tech Not Negligent in 2007 School Massacre

Overturns a jury decision

Virginia's Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a jury decision that found Virginia Tech University negligent in the 2007 massacre at the school in which 32 people were killed.

A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury found last year that the state university had been slow to issue a campus warning as the shooting spree unfolded.

The trial judge had instructed the jury that there was "special relationship" between the school and slain students Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson, since the women were "business invitees" of the university. The women's families filed the wrongful death lawsuit.

In rejecting the decision, the Supreme Court said that "even if there was a special relationship between the Commonwealth and students of Virginia Tech … there was no duty for the Commonwealth to warn students about the potential for criminal acts by third parties."