That was also true at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people in 2012. A wrongful death lawsuit filed by families of two children killed there seeking unspecified sums has dragged on since 2015.
In the case of public schools, state laws that exempt them from liability or limit the payouts can leave survivors and their families with huge medical expenses. Those laws can have exceptions and in some states, such as Florida, the legislature has authority to waive such limits.
Still, the process can take years and while school employees are generally covered through workers' compensation insurance some shooter policies could help families meet some of the medical costs.
Crowdfunding For Survivors
Some desperate families have turned to crowdfunding sites. For instance, Royer Borges is using GoFundMe to raise $1 million for his son Anthony, a Parkland student who has undergone eight surgeries since being shot five times during the massacre.
Anthony has insurance through a government sponsored-program for children, but it is unclear how much it will cover, his lawyer Alex Arreaza said.
The privately-owned McGowan Companies, fielded 10 times the number of queries in February about shooting coverage and inked three times more policies than a year before, according to Marshall.
Some coverage has been around since 2011, but more insurers, including Beazley, XL Catlin, Hiscox Ltd have launched such policies since 2016, as mass shootings showed no sign of abating.
For example, a unit of insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group recently began selling coverage to help terror and mass shooting victims, including at schools, and a Munich Re unit in June began offering schools $100,000 in additional coverage for reimbursement of violent event expenses.
Premiums can range anywhere from $1,400 per year for $1 million in coverage for a small private school to $50,000-$100,000 for a $5 million to $10 million policy for a large public school district, industry executives said.