Long Beach Post: Jury in Melody Ross Wrongful Death Case Finds in Favor of LBUSD

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Jury in Melody Ross Wrongful Death Case Finds in Favor of LBUSD

by Long Beach Post | Staff Reports | 01.24.12 |

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3:31pm |�A jury in the Melody Ross civil case returned a verdict in favor of the Long Beach Unified School District today. The jury awarded no damages, finding the school district in no way liable for the off-campus, fatal shooting of the Wilson Classical High School student on October 30, 2009.

"The jury agreed that our school district was in no way responsible for this senseless act of violence that occurred off campus," said LBUSD Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser. �"We're relieved that the real perpetrator of this crime, the gunman, will be held accountable rather than an outstanding school whose staff provides a safe environment. Our hearts go out

to everyone who knew and loved Melody, but we applaud the jury for considering all the evidence and applying the law correctly."

Click here to read Greggory Moore's commentary on the dismissal.

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15 Comments so far.

Too Bad
that she was killed by those idiot punks... that her family tried to cash in because of it.

Good
It is tragic the family lost their daughter to some gang member punk. It is equally tragic the family attempted to profit from their daughter's death at the expense of all of us.

annie g
What a horrible thing to say about a family who suffered a great loss. Wrongful death lawsuits are a reasonable way to try to compensate this family for their horrific loss, or the law wouldn't allow them.

Rich
I feel for the family's loss. However, Melody was their child/dependent, not their wage earner or source of family financial support. I do not feel that a contracted court case or money would help me heal from the loss of a loved one. I WOULD want to see that the criminal be brought to justice and spend time in prison.

Hey Annie
Why should our tax dollars compensate families that suffer horrific losses? There was clearly no negligence here. A punk gangbanger killed an innocent bystander, whic, of course, is terrible. But what is the school district supposed to do? Pat down every person that walks on the street outside of Wilson. The family has assimilated nicely into the the American game of placing blame on the deep pockets.

John B. Greet
No one is responsible for the crime but those who committed it. Still, the Ross family had every right to pursue their wrongful death claim. The preponderance of the evidence simply did not support their claim. I pray that someday they find some measure of peace.

Perspective
Hard to judge a family going through the worst thing imaginable. Easier to harshly judge the attorneys who preyed upon their enormous heartbreak.

Just Started
Zerby case is next. I hope the result is the same.

Sad...
But she should really be suing the mayor and those idiots who keep the gang-banger low-income filth in this city with their slums and welfare policies.

Curious
@Greet Do you also believe that the Zerby family has "every right to pursue their wrongful death claim"?

Anonymous
It's amazing how some of you idiots come on here to judge people that live in low income areas as filth.Yes it is a tragedy that this family lost their daughter but coming to the conclusion that everyone that live in these areas are all bad people is just ignorant.

John B. Greet
@Curious: Of course. And I have said as much elsewhere.

Enough Zenough
Can't say I'm surprised by the outcome. There was nothing (IMHO) that lead me to believe the school district was negligent in any way. While I agree with Greet (... had every right to pursue their wrongful death claim), more often than not the victims reach for the deepest pocket in hopes of a quick settlement. Looks like the Defendant did the right thing and fought the case to trial.

Agree with Sad
Not sure when it happened but it's obvious at some point the city decided that lots of cracker box apartments, section 8 housing and a welcoming attitude towards poverty, unemployment and an uneducated under-class was the city's destiny. And since that moment when consciously or unconciously

Continued
Was trying to backspace and hit enter instead - in any case, to continue...

When this city, by design or default, became the destination of choice for every gang-banger in the area, there has been constant crime and degradation in the quality of life.

In that sad reality lies the death of Melody Ross.

Maybe sue the RDA whose tendency to tear down single family residences in favor of cheap, multi-unit and ugly crack box housing is at the root of the problem. And then layer in those council people who felt that the benefits of section 8 housing, of low-income programs and the rest of it was an important step in creating the city's future and you have all it takes to create slum upon slum and crime upon crime.

Anonymous, agree not all poor people are bad, but you can pretty much bet the gang'y types who killed Melody didn't grow up on Naples Island, weren't applying to good colleges to earn their four-year degrees and had no intentions of growing up into productive citizens.

Reality isn't always pretty or fair, but it's always reality.