The first suit has been filed against the University of Colorado in the aftermath of the Aurora, Colo. Theater massacre last July.
Chantel Blunk, the widow of shooting victim Jonathan Blunk, is suing both the school and psychiatrist Lynne Fenton, who treated shooter James Holmes the month before the tragedy.
"Fenton was presented with the opportunity to use such reasonable care when the Colorado University Police offered to apprehend James Holmes on a psychiatric hold," says the lawsuit. "Fenton breached her duty to use reasonable care."
The university has said Fenton isn't responsible for the actions of Holmes. "Fenton has been silent on her relationship with Holmes because of doctor-patient confidentiality, but she has said in court that she treated Holmes more than a month before the shooting and that her professional relationship with him ended in mid-June," writes the Los Angeles Times.
Some reports say Fenton declined to have Holmes detained after he mentioned fantasies of killing people in June.
On July 20, Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 70 more during a midnight showing of the final Batman film.
"The university has nothing but sympathy for the victims, but in our initial review of this case the university believes the lawsuit is not well founded legally or factually," said college spokesperson Jacque Montgomery.
After preliminary hearings last week that involved emotional testimony from police officers at the scene of the shooting, Holmes will be put on trial for the murders. His arraignment is scheduled for Mar. 12.
His defense attorneys are expected to mount an insanity defense, which will release Fenton from confidentiality, allowing all parties to comb through her records on Holmes for evident to support their myriad cases.
If investigators find information pointing toward mental illness in Fenton's records, that could be a boon for Holmes' defense, but bad news for Fenton and the university, as it could be taken as proof that she should have done something to prevent him from carrying out his violent fantasies.
But if Holmes comes across as a relatively normal man going through a tough time in Fenton's papers, that may help shield her from blame and sink his lawyers' attempts to portray him as unstable and unable to control his own actions.
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