In a recent legal settlement, parties intimately affected by the Parkland high school shooting have agreed to co-own the gunman Nikolas Cruz's publicity rights and a potential annuity. The agreement includes Anthony Borges, the most seriously wounded survivor, as well as the families of slain students Meadow Pollack, Luke Hoyer, Alaina Petty, and fellow student survivor Maddy Wilford, as reported by WPTV.
All five parties, under the settlement endorsed by Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips, now wield veto power over any attempts by Cruz to profit from his name or image. They are also poised to equally share in a $400,000 annuity bequeathed by Cruz's mother, should it ever be dispensed. While the families of Pollack, Hoyer, Petty, and Wilford have committed to donating their portions to charities, Borges requires the funds for enduring medical costs, as noted by his attorney Alex Arreaza in statements obtained by US News.
The settlement preempted a court dispute scheduled to determine the validity of a prior accord, which vested exclusive rights of Cruz's publicity to Borges. This preemptive resolution, aside from handling the rights to the killer's notoriety, also ostensibly addresses the lingering frictions between the involved parties. The agreement effectively negates a contentious $190 million settlement previously sought by attorneys for Wilford and the other families, a figure acknowledged as largely symbolic and unattainable.
David Brill, representing Wilford and the other families, expressed satisfaction with the resolution, stating, "This agreed order completely validates the position we took and which the Borgeses and their lawyer, Alex Arreaza, shamelessly vilified us for," according to remarks in a statement highlighted by WPTV. The collective legal maneuver serves a dual purpose: it thwarts Cruz from personally capitalizing on his infamy, and it consolidates the voices of the survivors and victims' families in managing his narrative.
Despite the recent settlement, a pending lawsuit remains unresolved, involving the families, survivors, and others affected by the shooting against fired Broward County sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson and others. As US News reports, Peterson, acquitted of criminal charges last year, was criticized for his inaction during the mass shooting. Nikolas Cruz, now 26, is serving a life sentence without parole following his 2021 guilty plea and subsequent sentencing in 2022 after a jury rejected the death penalty.
