Using contributions to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, Virginia Tech donated $8.5 million Tuesday to surviving victims and families of victims of the April 16 shootings.
Memorial Fund legal counsel Kenneth Feinberg designed the protocol for allocating funds to each of the families and victims, according to Virginia Tech spokesperson Larry Hincker.
Feinberg, who also led the allocation process for the federal government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, said families who lost a loved one received the largest financial allocations. A formula then had to be established to divide the rest of the money among the injured.
"The quickest way to measure [fund allocation] to the victims who were injured was to measure hospitalization," he said. "The longer you were in the hospital, the more money you received. For example, you received a certain amount if you were in the hospital for more than 10 days and less if you were there for under three."
Feinberg said the system was designed to accommodate a limited money supply.
According to Hincker, as the fund grew Feinberg was able to adjust the amount of money victims and their families received.
Families of the deceased were eligible for $208,000, and the injured received anywhere from $104,000 with free tuition to free tuition alone, Hincker added.
Although victims and their families have received financial compensation, Tech is still vulnerable to legal suits, Feinberg and Hincker both said.
All families and surviving victims filed local claims before the Oct. 16 deadline, so there is still a possibility that lawsuits could materialize, Feinberg said.
"Every claimant, [including] victims who suffered from mental trauma, the physically injured and the deceased, filed and none surrendered their right to sue," he noted.
Hincker said the deadline to file claim with the Commonwealth is not until April 2008, so lawsuits on the state level are an option for the victims and their families.
Feinberg said the donations will not deter people from suing if they planned on doing so before the donations, but he added that people may just want to move on from the tragedy.
"I think the spirit of Virginia Tech is deterring people from filing suit," he said, noting that victims and their families seem grateful for the donations. "They are ready to move past the trauma and rebuild their community"
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