This could get ugly.

Parents of Plaza Towers tornado victims seeking damages from the city, school district | News OK (http://newsok.com/parents-of-plaza-towers-tornado-victims-seeking-damages-from-the-city-school-district/article/4849881)

First, let me say I realize this lawsuit is against Moore schools.

If enough parents were to do this to the state, maybe the state will take some real responsibility for the buildings safety they require children to attend school at. Getting storm shelters in schools is pretty simple... Make it so expensive for our crappy state government to defend lawsuits that it becomes cheaper to build the shelters. The parents don't even have to win, they just have to be persistent.

Surely there must be some lawyers out there that would take on such a calling for gratis....

Really this should be against the city for doing poor inspections and the contractor for doing a shoddy job.

The crazy thing in that article was that Briarwood a new school had several structural deficiencies. How could a school that was built a few months before it was destroyed have structural issues like that. Hmmm I think their needs to be an investigation into the contractors we all know it wasn't wear and tear.

Briarwood was not a new school.

Website has the year being established as 1985.

If I recall correctly, due to tort reform, this is one where the insurance company will probably just pay policy limits. The Tort Claims Act limits the payout to multiple parties arising from one incident to a maximum of $1MM, if memory serves.

Keep in mind that the firm responsible for the construction is now gone. They were also responsible for the OK County Jail. Just flat out bad design and poor oversight in trying to cut corners. The design the district had wasn't the issue. It's the implementation of the construction. I don't really fault the district for this only because construction isn't their job. That's why anyone relies on contractors and inspectors because it IS their job.

I would blame the city...and more notably, the inspector that allowed all of this to be approved while it was obviously poorly constructed. I would suspect that there was a payment. Too bad it was built before email or I would guarantee that there would be a trail to show us IF the district knew and who at the city knew. That inspector has probably gone through quite a bit of emotional turmoil after this discovery. Perhaps he/she really did think it was proper. WAS is proper for code at the time???? It's a terrible responsibility to bear if one finds that he/she is partially responsible for the death of those children (and I worked with one of those moms). They have a right to be angry about this. If those walls fell not just because there was a tornado, but because the building was built below standards and was incorrectly given a green light, then someone needs to be help responsible.

Thinking a little more about it, I think this is one where a defense verdict would be likely. I think schools have a duty to protect students from extreme weather events like this, but I don't see where they breached that duty here. Outside of some very expensive improvements that no or almost no Oklahoma schools have made yet (storm shelters) there aren't any school buildings out there which would deal with being hit by an F5 tornado.

And what was said about the builder and the city inspector, holding them liable for this event is a stretch. If there is such a thing as an "act of God" defense, that's what this was.

Thinking a little more about it, I think this is one where a defense verdict would be likely. I think schools have a duty to protect students from extreme weather events like this, but I don't see where they breached that duty here. Outside of some very expensive improvements that no or almost no Oklahoma schools have made yet (storm shelters) there aren't any school buildings out there which would deal with being hit by an F5 tornado.

That's my feeling as well. The only way (IMO) that the school system or the city is liable is if the building wasn't up to code/spec and it was known to be unsafe.

Glad they got their sh*t together, but just ridiculous the way they went about it...

Oklahoma House reverses course, approves storm shelter measure | News OK (http://newsok.com/oklahoma-house-reverses-course-approves-storm-shelter-measure/article/4849948)

I can't blame them. I'm sure I would do the same.

That's my feeling as well. The only way (IMO) that the school system or the city is liable is if the building wasn't up to code/spec and it was known to be unsafe.

Even if it was up to code, being hit by an F5 tornado, it probably wouldn't have mattered very much.