NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – After months in court, Abby Zwerner’s attorneys, along with the defense for Newport News Public Schools, reached agreements Wednesday afternoon.
The two group first met in court back in April when Zwerner sued NNPS for $40 million after getting shot by her student at Richneck Elementary in January.
For months, attorneys on both sides have gone back and forth over what information will be used in what school division attorneys have said is a worker’s compensation issue.
Now, after the juggling, many agreements were met, including a stipulation saying that no first-grade teacher should expect to be shot while at school.
“The fact that we’ve stipulated that no school teacher should expect to be shot at school by a student goes directly to the issue that the judge will have to decide, which is whether it is an actual risk of a school teacher in Newport News, a Newport News school teacher, to have this sort of injury or have this sort of circumstance happen at work,” said Kevin Biniazan, one of Zwerner’s attorneys. “So an expectation goes directly to the issue, the legal issue of an actual risk and that’s why it’s a significant stipulation.”
A month prior, a judge ruled that discovery will move forward in this case. On Wednesday afternoon, it was decided that would be given in 30 days.
That discovery includes things like text messages, cell phone records and emails regarding the situation from Newport News Public Schools’ board members as well as individual defendants in the case.
That’s in addition to the agreement that witnesses directly involved in the event, including students, can be identified.
Student resource officer communications regarding procedures and policies will also be released.
Emails from Newport News Public Schools pertaining to what to do if a weapon is found on school grounds will also be presented to the court.
Although all of this was agreed to, both sides said this still doesn’t change the fact that the case boils down to whether or not the incident can be categorized as a workplace injury.
“The issue here is that if a defendant can come into court after something like this happening for the first time and say, this is worker’s compensation,” Biniazan said. “You don’t get a right to pursue your only legal action then that changes the legal rights of everybody in the Commonwealth of Virginia, may even change the legal rights of everyone throughout the country.”
In a statement the defense said, “If this is a workplace injury and worker’s compensation applies, as we believe it does, the case ends there and Ms. Zwerner would still be entitled to worker’s compensation benefits, which include up to 500 weeks of compensation as well as lifetime medical benefits. If not, the case proceeds and the stipulation would no longer apply for further proceedings.”
