The lawsuit over who owns the Parkland killer’s name and likeness has been settled

An ugly legal rift between the most seriously injured survivor of the 2018 Parkland high school massacre and the families of some of the seventeen murdered victims was settled Monday, with all parties now owning an equal share of the killer’s publicity rights and a annuity he may receive.

Under an agreement signed by Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips, survivor Anthony Borges, the families of slain students Meadow Pollack, Luke Hoyer and Alaina Petty and fellow student survivor Maddy Wilford now control any attempt by gunman Nikolas Cruz to profit from his name or likeness. or give interviews. Each of the five parties has a veto right.

They would also share a $400,000 annuity that Cruz’s late mother left him, if he ever received it. The families of the victims and Wilford said they would donate their share to charities. Borges’ attorney, Alex Arreaza, has said his client needs the money for future medical expenses.

The settlement was reached a day before the parties were set to argue before Phillips whether to reject a June agreement that Borges, 21, and his parents reached with Cruz. It would have given Borges ownership of Cruz’s name and image, approval of any interviews he might give and the annuity. Cruz shot the once promising football star five times in the torso and legs, causing him to almost bleed to death. He has undergone numerous surgeries.

Lawyers for Wilford, who was shot four times, and the families of Pollack, Hoyer and Petty had quickly responded with their own $190 million settlement with Cruz, which they admit they will never receive.

They said they were blindsided by the Borges settlement and that there had been a verbal agreement to cooperate in their lawsuit against Cruz. Other victim families and survivors had not chosen to be part of that lawsuit.

“The purpose of the (Borges) settlement was to prevent Cruz from making statements. This is now shared with the other parents. That was never a problem,” Arreaza said in a statement.

David Brill, the lead attorney for the families and Wilford, said Arreaza and the Borges family “capitulated.” He emphasized that all five victims and families in the settlement now have a say in whether Cruz ever speaks publicly, not just Borges.

“This agreed order fully affirms the position we have taken and for which the Borgeses and their attorney, Alex Arreaza, have blatantly defamed us,” Brill said in a statement.

The battle became public during a hearing in September, when both sides accused the other of lying. An exasperated Phillips at one point compared their argument to a contentious divorce, one that she granted. She urged the parties to reach a settlement.

The hostility began during negotiations over the distribution of a $25 million settlement reached with Broward County schools in 2021. The families of the seventeen dead insisted that Borges receive one dollar less than they would receive, in recognition that they had suffered the greater loss.

Arreaza believed Borges deserved $5 million from that pot because he will have a lifetime of medical expenses. This resulted in his client being expelled from the group even though he did not want to give in. The battle continued during negotiations over a $127 million settlement the families and surviving victims reached with the FBI over its failure to investigate a report that Cruz was planning a mass shooting. The Borgeses eventually reached their own settlements.

All the families of the victims, survivors and others mentally affected by the shooting still have a pending lawsuit against fired Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson, who was assigned to the school. They say he failed to go after Cruz during his six-minute rampage. Peterson was acquitted of criminal charges last year. The sheriff’s office and two former school security guards also face charges.

A trial date for that lawsuit has not yet been set.

Cruz, 26, pleaded guilty to the shootings in 2021. He was sentenced to life without parole in 2022 after a jury spared him the death penalty.

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