Sheriff of Broward County v. Estate of Alyssa Alhadeff
In the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting civil litigation, the Fourth DCA affirmed the trial court's denial of the Broward County Sheriff's motion for partial summary judgment on sovereign immunity. The court held the Sheriff cannot obtain summary judgment on a sovereign immunity defense premised on a theory — pre-shooting arrest or civil commitment of the shooter — that the plaintiffs' complaint does not actually advance.
Key facts
- Victims and estates of those killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida brought consolidated civil negligence actions against the Broward County Sheriff's Office, alleging operational-level failures on the day of and during the shooting.
- The plaintiffs' complaint referenced pre-shooting contacts between the Sheriff's Office and the shooter, but the claims pleaded were limited to operational-level negligence — not to any policy-level decision about whether to arrest or civilly commit the shooter before the event.
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Holdings
- Governmental entities remain immune under §768.28 for policy-level, planning, or judgmental governmental functions, including the decision whether to arrest or civilly commit a person…
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Why it matters
This is a significant procedural ruling in one of Florida's most high-profile civil cases arising from the 2018 Parkland shooting. The 4DCA's holding has broad application: a governmental defendant claiming sovereign… — full analysis with a trial
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