Lawyer may shelve plans to sue Connecticut for $100M over Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre
By: CBS News
Updated: January 2, 2013
Personal injury attorney Irving Pinsky, who initially filed a request to sue the state late last week, told CBS affiliate WFSB on Tuesday that he will likely file papers to have the request withdrawn, "to calm the waters of all the stress some people seem to feel about this."
Pinsky represents the family of a six-year-old who survived the Dec. 14 rampage during which Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults, before taking his own life.
The lawyer told WFSB he had received threats since filing the suit, including on his life.
When he filed to request permission to bring the suit, the lawyer told WFSB the state of Connecticut "did not do enough to provide for" the safety of the Sandy Hook students. The state of Connecticut has immunity to most lawsuits, unless permission is given to go ahead with any given claim."The fact is we have to work harder to stop it from happening again, because if we don't effectuate sophisticated scientific methods to stop it, it's gonna happen again," he told the station, adding that Connecticut and other states were, "failing to protect children from guns." It was not clear what measures Pinsky would recommend taking at the state level to better protect children in their schools.
On Tuesday, he told WFSB he was sorry that people felt he had filed suit "too early," but added that "the sooner you get the evidence, the better off you are."
He told the station he would have up to one year to re-file the suit, if he does file the papers to drop it now, and he did not rule out taking that step.
The office of Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen released a statement to WFSB saying the state's top lawyer was "aware of no facts or legal theory under which the state of Connecticut should be liable for causing the harms inflicted at Sandy Hook Elementary School."
"The proposed lawsuit is utterly groundless," Jepsen said in the Tuesday statement. "I hope it does get withdrawn but if not, we'll defend the state and taxpayers of Connecticut."
Police are still trying to determine what drove Lanza to take guns from his home and walk into the school and open fire after killing his mother.
A spokesman for the young man's family said Monday that his father, Peter Lanza, had claimed his remains.
