What Just Happened in Wilmington — and What the Next 72 Hours Demand
If you are reading this in the hours after a hospital shooting took your loved one, we are sorry. The call that came from ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 16, 2026 — from the 500 block of W. 14th Street in the Hilltop neighborhood of Wilmington, Delaware — has already changed your family’s life in ways that will take years to understand. We work with families in exactly this situation. We have walked families through the first 72 hours after a workplace killing more times than we would like to count, and we want to give you what we have learned that the hospital, the police, and the insurance company will not.
The first thing you need to know is this: the evidence that will decide your case is being written over, purged, and moved out of state as you read this. ChristianaCare’s security cameras on that campus typically retain footage for thirty to seventy-two days depending on server capacity. The Wilmington Police Department holds evidence for a standard six-month period. The Philadelphia Police Department, which tracked the suspect across I-95 to the Olney section using License Plate Readers, retains LPR data for thirty to ninety days. The shooter’s personnel file with ChristianaCare is subject to routine purging seven years after separation — meaning the records that document whether the hospital knew, or should have known, that this employee posed a danger can vanish while you are still planning the funeral.
The second thing: you have a two-year deadline under Delaware law (10 Del. C. § 8119), but the evidence clock is measured in days and weeks, not years. The legal deadline and the evidence deadline are two different clocks, and the family that protects the second clock is the family that wins the first. We are going to walk you through both.
What We Know About the June 16, 2026 Wilmington Hospital Shooting
On Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon, a 23-year-old male hospital employee allegedly opened fire inside ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital, shooting two other employees. One victim was killed. The second victim’s condition has not been publicly disclosed. The hospital was placed on lockdown. Police, firefighters, and medics flooded the Emergency Department. News helicopter footage showed staff and visitors exiting the building with their hands raised.
The suspect fled the scene in a personal Toyota RAV4. He was tracked across state lines into Philadelphia’s Olney section — a known drug-trafficking and gang-activity corridor in North Philadelphia, about thirty miles northeast of Wilmington on I-95 — using License Plate Reader technology that captured his vehicle as he crossed into Pennsylvania. He was taken into custody at approximately 9:30 p.m., roughly six hours after the shooting. Wilmington Police have characterized the incident as a “targeted, isolated” event. ChristianaCare diverted Emergency Department patients to other facilities and issued a public statement emphasizing the safety of patients, caregivers, and visitors.
What we do not yet know — and what the next seventy-two hours of investigation will determine — is whether the shooter had a documented history of violence, threats, restraining orders, disciplinary action, or treatment that ChristianaCare knew about or should have discovered through reasonable screening. We do not yet know whether the hospital’s security contractor had metal detectors, bag-check protocols, panic-button coverage, or active-shooter response training that met industry standards. We do not yet know whether co-conspirators aided the flight to Philadelphia. We do not yet know whether the firearm was legally possessed. Each of these questions is answerable — and each of them will determine the size and shape of your family’s recovery.
Who Can Be Held Liable After a Hospital Shooting in Delaware
Delaware law recognizes several distinct defendants in a hospital workplace shooting, and identifying every viable defendant is the first job of the investigation. The shooter is the most obvious defendant, but he is almost certainly not the only one — and depending on what the evidence shows, he may not be the most collectable one.
The Shooter as the Primary Defendant
The 23-year-old suspect is named as the alleged perpetrator. He is the primary defendant. A civil wrongful death and survival action will be filed against him personally for the killing of your loved one and the wounding of the second employee. We name him even though his collectability is, at this early stage, doubtful. The reason: a default civil judgment lasts for at least twenty years in Delaware, and during those two decades, the shooter may acquire assets — employment, an inheritance, a settlement from a third party — that the judgment can attach to. A judgment is also a precondition to certain asset-forfeiture claims and to restitution in the criminal case.
The fact that the shooter is also the person who fired the gun does not end the analysis. Delaware law, like the law of every other state, asks whether other parties enabled, failed to prevent, or bore responsibility for the conditions that made the shooting possible. The hospital. The security contractor. Possibly co-conspirators. Possibly the person or business that supplied the firearm. We pursue all of them.
ChristianaCare and Negligent Hiring, Retention, and Supervision
ChristianaCare, Inc. — Delaware’s largest health system and the operator of the Wilmington Hospital campus — can be sued for negligent hiring, negligent retention, and negligent supervision of the shooter as an employee. Delaware courts (see, for example, Brewster v. United States, 1999, and its progeny) recognize negligent-retention claims where an employer knew or should have known that an employee posed a risk of violence and failed to act on that knowledge.
The evidence we will demand from ChristianaCare includes: the shooter’s complete personnel file; his job application and any prior employer references; his disciplinary history; any prior complaints, grievances, or reports of threatening behavior; any Employee Assistance Program referrals; any history of drug or alcohol problems; any prior restraining orders or protective orders naming him or filed by him; his performance reviews; the results of any background checks; the results of any psychological evaluations required for his position; and the training he received on workplace violence, de-escalation, and reporting concerns.
ChristianaCare will resist turning over these records. They will argue privacy, attorney-client privilege, and the workers’ compensation exclusivity bar. We counter each of those arguments with subpoenas, motions to compel, and — where the facts support it — the argument that the workers’ compensation bar should be pierced entirely under the narrow exception Delaware recognizes for employer conduct that makes injury substantially certain to occur. We explain that exception in detail below.
The Hospital Security Contractor — A Direct Defendant Outside Workers’ Comp
ChristianaCare almost certainly contracts with a third-party security vendor — most often a national firm such as Allied Universal, Securitas, or a regional provider. The security contractor is not ChristianaCare’s co-employee for workers’ compensation purposes. It is an independent business. That distinction matters enormously, because it means the security contractor can be sued directly in tort, outside the workers’ comp bar, for its own negligence.
The theories against the security contractor include: negligent hiring of the security officers assigned to the Wilmington Hospital campus; negligent training on active-shooter response, de-escalation, and use-of-force; negligent supervision of those officers; failure to maintain post orders that required metal-detector screening, bag checks, or access control; failure to staff the Emergency Department at a level appropriate to the documented threat environment; and failure to coordinate with local law enforcement in advance of known risks.
Identifying the security contractor is a Day-One priority of the investigation. The contractor’s general liability and umbrella insurance policies are typically the deepest pocket in a case like this, and they are recoverable without piercing workers’ comp. The contractor’s insurance carrier will begin its own investigation within hours of the shooting — and so must we.
Co-Conspirators, the Flight to Philadelphia, and Federal Claims
The suspect’s flight to Philadelphia’s Olney section — tracked via License Plate Readers, six hours in duration, and terminating in a neighborhood known for drug trafficking and gang activity — raises immediate questions about whether anyone aided the flight. Aiding and abetting the underlying tort, obstruction, civil conspiracy, and harboring are all civil causes of action in Delaware. If discovery reveals a gang or enterprise nexus — even a loose one — a federal civil RICO claim under 18 U.S.C. § 1962 could unlock treble damages and attorneys’ fees against co-conspirators.
There is also the firearm itself. If the shooter was a prohibited person under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) — whether by virtue of a prior felony conviction, a domestic violence restraining order, an unlawful drug use determination, or another disqualifier — the chain of possession from manufacturer to shooter becomes an investigative target. Negligent entrustment by the federal firearms licensee (FFL) who sold the weapon, and possible Brady Act background-check failures, are additional theories we evaluate in every case where the firearm’s legality is in question.
Delaware Workers’ Compensation — The First Barrier You Will Hit
The first call the family will receive from ChristianaCare — often within hours of the shooting, sometimes before the funeral — is from the hospital’s workers’ compensation claims handler. That call will be friendly. The handler will explain that workers’ comp is “there for you.” The handler will offer to “expedite” the claim. The handler will suggest that the family “not worry about lawyers right now.” All of this is procedure. None of it is wrong on its face. All of it is incomplete.
Here is the truth about Delaware workers’ compensation as it applies to the June 16, 2026 Wilmington Hospital shooting. Under 19 Del. C. § 2304, workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against a co-employee’s employer for injuries that occur in the course and scope of employment. For the surviving family of a ChristianaCare employee killed at work, that means comp death benefits are available — but those benefits are statutorily limited. Delaware’s maximum weekly compensation rate multiplied by two-thirds multiplied by up to 500 weeks for total dependents, plus a funeral benefit capped at $7,500. For a 23-year-old decedent with a long worklife expectancy, those capped benefits are a fraction of what a civil wrongful death case against a viable third-party defendant can deliver.
The comp claim should be filed. Death benefits and funeral expenses are real money, and the family needs them now. But the comp claim is not the end of the case. It is, in most cases, the beginning of a much larger one — provided that a third-party defendant can be identified and pursued outside the comp bar. The security contractor is one such defendant. Co-conspirators are another. The question of whether ChristianaCare itself can be sued directly — piercing the comp bar — is the most important legal question in the case. We turn to it next.
Piercing the Workers’ Comp Bar — The “Substantial Certainty” Exception
Delaware is, in most circumstances, a strict “exclusive remedy” state. The Delaware Supreme Court has, however, recognized a narrow exception where the employer knew that injury to the employee was substantially certain to occur and the injury did occur. The leading cases are Kofron v. American Stores (1994) and Morrissey v. YWCA (2004), and they establish a high bar — but a bar that exists.
The “substantial certainty” test asks whether the employer knew of a danger in the workplace, knew that the danger made injury or death a virtual certainty, and failed to act. The test is not satisfied by ordinary negligence. It is not satisfied by a single failure to follow a safety protocol. It is satisfied — and the case law bears this out — by a pattern of ignored warnings, documented prior incidents, known red flags in an employee’s history, or institutional knowledge that a specific risk had materialized before.
Under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act, 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1), each employer “shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.” OSHA’s enforcement directive CPL 02-01-052 specifically addresses workplace-violence prevention in healthcare settings, and the Joint Commission’s accreditation standards (EC.04.01.01, EM.02.01.01, EM.03.01.01) impose independent duties on hospitals regarding security risk assessments, active-shooter planning, and violent-incident response. These are not aspirational standards — they are the federal and accreditation floor against which a hospital’s conduct is measured.
The substantial-certainty argument in a case like the Wilmington Hospital shooting depends on what ChristianaCare knew, when it knew it, and what it did or did not do about it. The questions we will pursue in discovery include: Did the shooter have any prior history of threats, violence, restraining orders, or behavioral red flags that the hospital knew or should have known? Did the Emergency Department have metal detectors, bag-check protocols, or panic-button coverage before June 16, 2026? How many prior workplace-violence incidents had occurred at the Wilmington Hospital campus, and what were the responses? How often did the security contractor conduct active-shooter drills, and were the drills documented? What did the hospital’s most recent security risk assessment identify as vulnerabilities, and what remediation was scheduled?
If the discovery answers show that ChristianaCare knew of red flags in the shooter’s history, or knew of security vulnerabilities that had been identified but not addressed, or had a documented pattern of workplace-violence incidents that had not prompted meaningful intervention, the substantial-certainty argument becomes viable. Where it succeeds, the family recovers full tort damages — economic, non-economic, and punitive — directly from ChristianaCare. Where it does not, the security contractor and any co-conspirators remain as direct defendants.
The Delaware Wrongful Death Act and Survival Action — What Your Family Can Recover
Delaware’s Wrongful Death Act (10 Del. C. § 3724) creates a statutory cause of action when a person’s death is caused by the “wrongful act, neglect, or default” of another. The action is brought by the personal representative of the decedent’s estate on behalf of statutory beneficiaries — typically the surviving spouse, children, and, where there is no spouse or child, the parents or next of kin. The action may be joined with a survival action (10 Del. C. § 3701), which recovers the decedent’s own pre-death economic loss, conscious pain and suffering, and any property damage.
Damages in a Delaware wrongful death case are not capped. There is no statutory ceiling on compensatory damages for loss of financial support, loss of household services, loss of parental guidance, loss of consortium, or mental anguish. The medical malpractice damages cap in 18 Del. C. § 6863 does not apply to ordinary tort wrongful-death actions, and a hospital workplace shooting is not a medical malpractice case. This is one of the most important features of Delaware law for families in your position: the recovery is not artificially limited by statute.
The survival action is the family’s separate vehicle for damages the decedent himself experienced between the time of the shooting and the time of death. Those damages include the decedent’s conscious pain and suffering — a category that, in a shooting case, can be substantial if there was any interval between injury and death. Survival damages are pursued by the personal representative on behalf of the estate, and they are not subject to the no-fault recovery limits of workers’ comp because they are pursued against third-party defendants, not the employer.
Damages — Economic, Non-Economic, and Punitive
The damages in a hospital workplace shooting case fall into three categories, and each must be developed separately.
Economic damages include the decedent’s pre-death medical expenses, the lost wages from the date of injury to the date of death, the lost future earning capacity (calculated using Delaware worklife expectancy tables and Delaware wage data from the State Office of Management & Budget), the value of lost household services, and funeral and burial expenses. For a 23-year-old decedent, lost future earning capacity is the largest component by a wide margin. Delaware’s economic experts will discount the projected lifetime earnings to present value, then deduct the decedent’s personal consumption. The number that results is the foundation of the economic case — and it is the number the defense will fight hardest to reduce.
Non-economic damages include the decedent’s conscious pre-death pain and suffering (survival action), the loss of life’s pleasures, the loss of parental guidance and household services for any minor children, the loss of consortium and companionship for the surviving spouse, and the mental anguish suffered by the statutory beneficiaries as a result of the death. New Castle County juries have returned significant non-economic verdicts in violent-death cases, particularly where the conduct alleged is intentional or where institutional negligence played a role in allowing the harm.
Punitive damages are highly viable in a case like this. Delaware requires clear and convincing evidence of wanton negligence, malice, or intentional misconduct to support a punitive award, and intentional gun violence meets that standard against the shooter. Against ChristianaCare or the security contractor, punitive damages are available where the evidence shows a conscious disregard for a known risk — ignored red flags, identified vulnerabilities that were not remediated, security protocols that were required by Joint Commission standards and were not in place. Punitive multipliers of three to nine times compensatory damages are common in Delaware, and in jury-friendly cases the multiplier can run higher.
The realistic case-value range depends on the defendants available. Against the shooter alone, even a lifetime judgment is limited by his collectability, and the range is approximately $1.5 million to $8 million for the wrongful death claim. Against a viable third-party defendant — the security contractor, co-conspirators, or ChristianaCare if the substantial-certainty exception is met — the range opens to $5 million to $25 million or higher, with full punitive exposure pushing the ceiling beyond that. The final valuation depends on what the discovery reveals, what the security contractor’s insurance limits are, whether co-conspirators are identified, and how the substantial-certainty argument develops.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. We tell you the ranges so you understand what the evidence can support, not what any particular case will deliver. Every case is its own case.
The Evidence That Disappears in 30 to 72 Days
The evidence that decides cases like this is recorded on systems that overwrite on a clock. The preservation letter goes out the day you call — not after the funeral, not after the criminal case, and not after the insurance company “checks in.” Here is what we send demands for, to whom, and how fast each piece of evidence dies.
Hospital surveillance video (CCTV) from the Emergency Department entrance, the corridors, the staff-only areas, the parking lots, and the security desk is the single most important piece of evidence in the case. It captures the shooter’s pre-incident movements, the weapon draw, the victim interaction, the response times of security and police, the lockdown activation sequence, and the arrival of first responders. Hospital CCTV systems typically retain footage on a 30 to 72 day cycle depending on server capacity, and the cycle starts the moment the system stops recording. We send a litigation hold letter to ChristianaCare’s Vice President of Legal on the day you retain us, and we follow it with a subpoena within seven days.
The shooter’s impounded Toyota RAV4 may contain the firearm, ballistic evidence, ammunition, shell casings, the clothing worn during the shooting, cell phones, written communications, and GPS or infotainment data that evidences pre-meditation and intent. Wilmington Police evidence holds last a standard six months; the criminal case will preserve the vehicle for the duration of the prosecution, but the civil plaintiff needs a parallel preservation request to the WPD evidence custodian within fourteen days to make sure the vehicle is not released or destroyed if the criminal case resolves first.
The shooter’s HR and personnel file at ChristianaCare documents prior discipline, performance reviews, prior threats, restraining orders, drug and alcohol history, EAP referrals, termination grievances, and any red-flag indicators that the hospital knew about. These records are routinely purged seven years after separation under ChristianaCare’s document-retention policy, and the destruction of these records can be the most damaging event in the case. The HR discovery subpoena must be served within fourteen days.
License Plate Reader data and CCTV from the Philadelphia pursuit route documents the suspect’s flight path, identifies possible co-conspirators, and establishes venue and jurisdiction for federal conspiracy claims. The Philadelphia Police Department and the Delaware Department of Transportation retain LPR data on a 30 to 90 day cycle. Preservation requests go out within seven days; the data is requested by subpoena within thirty days.
ChristianaCare security post-orders, training records, incident logs, prior workplace-violence reports, and security-contractor invoices are the foundation of the negligent-security claim against the hospital and the direct claim against the security contractor. These records establish whether metal detectors were deployed, whether bag checks were performed, whether panic buttons were functional, whether active-shooter drills were conducted, and whether prior workplace-violence incidents had been documented. A broad records-custodian subpoena is required within fourteen days.
Cell phone records of the shooter and the decedents establish motive, prior communications, threats, social-media posts, and pre-meditation, and they are essential to the punitive damages case. Data may auto-delete without a litigation hold. Subpoenas to the carriers go out within thirty days.
Police reports, 911 audio, dispatch logs, and body-camera footage from the Wilmington and Philadelphia police departments establish the timeline, capture the official statement that the incident was “targeted, isolated,” and preserve any suspect statements that can be used in the civil case. Delaware Freedom of Information Act requests go out within thirty days; the records become public-record-locked once filed.
OSHA Form 300 logs and any prior workplace-violence incident reports at ChristianaCare are gold for establishing foreseeability and piercing the workers’ comp bar. Federal law requires employers to record workplace injuries on these logs, and prior similar incidents are admissible as evidence of notice. The OSHA records-custodian request goes out within fourteen days.
The pattern is clear: the most important evidence in the case has a half-life measured in weeks, and the family that preserves it first controls the case. We send the preservation letters on the day you call.
What the Insurance Adjusters Are Already Doing — and How to Counter Every Play
Within hours of the shooting, several insurance adjusters and claims professionals are working the case against your family. They have scripts. The scripts are effective. Here is what to expect, and how to counter each move.
Play 1: The sympathy call from ChristianaCare’s risk management or its workers’ comp claims handler. The call will be warm, empathetic, and timed to land before you have spoken to a lawyer. The caller will offer to “expedite” the workers’ comp claim, will assure you that the family “doesn’t need to worry about anything,” and will begin gathering information about the decedent’s earnings, beneficiaries, and circumstances — information that gets coded into the insurer’s claim file and used to set a low initial reserve. Counter: Take the call. Be polite. Do not discuss fault, do not discuss the cause of death in detail, and do not provide financial or medical information beyond what is necessary to identify the family. Refer the caller to your lawyer the moment you have one. If you do not yet have a lawyer, say so, and call us.
Play 2: The “you should file workers’ comp right away” message that locks the family into the comp system. Workers’ comp is real money and should be filed, but the comp claim is not the end of the case. The comp carrier will use the comp filing as evidence that the family has been made whole, and will resist third-party recovery with everything it has. Counter: File the comp claim for the immediate benefits the family needs now. Separately, evaluate the third-party defendants — security contractor, co-conspirators, and ChristianaCare under the substantial-certainty exception. The two tracks are not mutually exclusive, and filing comp does not bar a third-party suit. Our practice area page on workers’ compensation explains the interaction in detail.
Play 3: The “no lawyer needed” reassurance, sometimes delivered by a hospital chaplain, a human-resources representative, or a nurse manager. The message is delivered with genuine care and is also a claims-handling technique. The fewer lawyers involved, the lower the recovery. Counter: Get a lawyer. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win.
Play 4: The recorded statement request. Someone from the hospital’s general liability carrier, the security contractor’s carrier, or a third-party administrator will ask the family to give a recorded statement about what happened. The statement will be coded into the claim file and used against the family later. Counter: Do not give a recorded statement to anyone representing an insurance company or the hospital until your lawyer has reviewed the request. Statements taken without counsel are the single most common way cases are lost. Our guide to what not to say to an insurance adjuster is worth your time tonight.
Play 5: The quick, low-dollar settlement offer that arrives before the family’s lawyer has had a chance to evaluate the case. The first offer will be presented as “final” and “the most we can do.” It will be a fraction of what the case is worth, and the release will be printed on the back of the check. Once signed, it is over. Counter: Do not sign anything. Do not cash any check that comes with a release. Refer the offer to your lawyer and let us evaluate it.
How We Build a Case Like This — The Proof Story
A hospital-workplace-shooting case is built the way a building is built — foundation first, then framing, then the systems that make it work, then the finish. The foundation is evidence preservation. The framing is records and experts. The systems are discovery and depositions. The finish is the number, supported by the forensic economics that New Castle County juries respect.
Week one. The litigation hold letter goes out to ChristianaCare’s Vice President of Legal the day you retain us. A parallel preservation demand goes to the Wilmington Police Department evidence custodian and to the Philadelphia Police Department LPR-data unit. A broad records subpoena to ChristianaCare is drafted and served. We begin building the relationship with the Delaware Attorney General’s office, which is prosecuting the criminal case, so that we can monitor the criminal proceedings and use any criminal conviction under collateral estoppel to lock in liability for the civil case.
Weeks two through four. The HR discovery subpoena is served. The OSHA 300 log request is filed. The security contractor’s records are subpoenaed. Cell phone carriers are served. The LPR data from Philadelphia is requested. We retain the experts who will be central to the case: a workplace-violence expert (typically a former hospital security director with experience evaluating metal-detector deployment, access-control systems, and active-shooter response); a ballistics and firearms expert; a forensic human-resources expert who evaluates hiring, screening, and retention practices; and a forensic psychiatrist who evaluates the shooter’s behavioral history. If a co-conspirator theory is developing, we retain an enterprise-investigations expert for the RICO analysis.
Months two through six. Written discovery propounds aggressively on ChristianaCare’s prior workplace-violence history, its security staffing levels at the Wilmington Hospital campus, the deployment (or absence) of metal detectors and bag checks, the frequency and documentation of active-shooter drills, the hospital’s most recent security risk assessment, the contractor’s post orders, and the contractor’s training records. We depose the hospital’s security director, the head of human resources, the head of risk management, and the security contractor’s account manager. We depose the Wilmington Police Department officers who responded to the scene, and we obtain the body-camera footage.
Months six through twelve. Mediation is scheduled. Delaware Superior Court requires mediation in civil cases seeking more than $250,000, and we use the mediation as both a settlement opportunity and a discovery device — the defendant’s mediator often reveals how the defense values the case in ways depositions do not. We continue depositions of the shooter’s former coworkers, supervisors, and treating providers, and we lock in the forensic economic analysis that will support the lost-future-earnings calculation.
Year one through year two. Expert depositions are completed. Dispositive motions are filed and briefed — the substantial-certainty motion to pierce the workers’ comp bar against ChristianaCare is the most important of these. The case is set for trial in New Castle County Superior Court. Most cases resolve before trial. The cases that do not resolve are the cases where the evidence supported a verdict, and the defense was unwilling to pay what the evidence was worth.
The number at the end of this process is built from all of it — the CCTV, the personnel file, the contractor’s post orders, the LPR data, the cell phone records, the expert analyses, the depositions, and the forensic economics. There is no shortcut. There is no “average” settlement for a case like this, and any lawyer who quotes you one before the discovery is complete is guessing. The case is worth what the evidence proves it is worth, and we build the evidence to support the highest number the facts can carry.
The Two-Year Deadline — Why Every Day Matters
Delaware’s statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death is two years (10 Del. C. § 8119). The wrongful death claim accrues on the date of death, and the survival claim accrues on the date of the injury. If your loved one survived for any period between the shooting and death, the survival clock started on June 16, 2026. If death was immediate, the wrongful death clock started on June 16, 2026. Two years from that date is the absolute outer limit — and missing it bars the case forever, no matter how strong the evidence.
Two years sounds like a long time. It is not. The evidence preservation work begins now. The expert retention begins now. The discovery begins now. The mediation in a Delaware Superior Court case of this size typically occurs between months nine and twelve, and trial dates in New Castle County are often set twelve to eighteen months out. The case that is filed in week one is the case that has time to be built properly. The case that is filed in month twenty-three is the case that settles low because the defense has had two years to destroy the evidence and deplete the witness memory. The deadline is real. The deadline is two years. The work begins now.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in Delaware after a hospital shooting?
The personal representative of the decedent’s estate files the wrongful death action under 10 Del. C. § 3724 on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries — the surviving spouse, children, and, where there is no spouse or child, the parents or next of kin. If no personal representative has been appointed, the family should petition the Delaware Register of Wills to make that appointment promptly. We handle that appointment as part of the case.
Can I sue the hospital if my loved one was a ChristianaCare employee?
Delaware’s workers’ compensation law (19 Del. C. § 2304) generally bars suit against a co-employee’s employer. That bar can be pierced where the employer knew that injury was substantially certain to occur (the “substantial certainty” exception from Kofron and Morrissey), and it does not bar suit against third-party defendants such as the security contractor, co-conspirators, or others whose negligence contributed to the harm. The full analysis of when and how the comp bar can be challenged is part of the case strategy from day one.
What is the statute of limitations for a hospital shooting case in Delaware?
Two years from the date of the injury (or the date of death for the wrongful death claim), under 10 Del. C. § 8119. The deadline is strict, and missing it bars the case forever.
What damages can the family recover?
Economic damages (pre-death medical, lost wages, lost future earning capacity, funeral and burial), non-economic damages (conscious pre-death pain and suffering, loss of life’s pleasures, loss of parental guidance, loss of consortium, mental anguish), and punitive damages where the conduct alleged supports a clear-and-convincing showing of wanton negligence, malice, or intentional misconduct. Delaware does not cap compensatory wrongful death damages. Punitive multipliers of three to nine times compensatory are common.
How long does a wrongful death case take?
Most cases resolve between twelve and twenty-four months. Delaware Superior Court requires mediation in cases over $250,000, typically scheduled between months nine and twelve. The cases that proceed to trial usually resolve in the months leading up to the trial date. Cases that proceed through trial in New Castle County are typically tried within eighteen to twenty-four months of filing.
What if the shooter has no money to pay a judgment?
The shooter is the primary defendant, but a civil judgment also operates as a lien, a basis for asset forfeiture, and a precondition to certain restitution claims. The strategy in nearly every case of this kind is to identify and pursue third-party defendants — the security contractor, co-conspirators, and ChristianaCare under the substantial-certainty exception — whose insurance and assets are far greater than the shooter’s. The shooter remains in the case; he is rarely the source of recovery.
Can I file a workers’ compensation claim and also sue?
Yes. The workers’ comp claim and the third-party civil claim are independent. Filing comp does not bar a third-party suit. The comp carrier may have a subrogation lien on the third-party recovery, but the lien is negotiable, and the family’s net recovery after a third-party verdict or settlement is typically far greater than the comp benefits alone. Our workers’ compensation practice page explains the interaction in detail.
What if my family member is the survivor, not the deceased?
The surviving wounded employee has a separate personal injury claim against the same defendants — the shooter, the security contractor, co-conspirators, and potentially ChristianaCare under the substantial-certainty exception. The survivor’s damages include medical expenses, lost wages, lost future earning capacity, pain and suffering, and (where supported) punitive damages. Injuries from hospital shootings frequently include traumatic brain injury, orthopedic injuries, and PTSD, and each carries its own proof requirements. Our brain injury practice page describes the proof problem and the proof solution in detail.
How much does it cost to hire a lawyer for a case like this?
You pay nothing unless we win. The consultation is free, and the representation is on a contingency fee — a percentage of the recovery. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no cost reimbursement. The financial risk of hiring us is zero; the financial risk of trying to handle a case like this without counsel is enormous.
What evidence disappears first?
Hospital CCTV is the most urgent — it typically overwrites on a 30 to 72 day cycle. LPR data from the Philadelphia pursuit is the next urgent piece, on a 30 to 90 day cycle. The shooter’s personnel file with ChristianaCare is subject to routine purging seven years after separation, but the records that document whether the hospital knew of red flags are most at risk in the immediate aftermath, before preservation is in place. We send the preservation letters on the day you call.
Does the hospital’s insurance cover punitive damages?
Many general liability policies exclude coverage for punitive damages, or cover them only in limited circumstances. The coverage question is part of the discovery. Punitive damages are pursued against the individual defendants and (where covered) the carriers, and the absence of insurance coverage for punitive damages is itself a discovery and trial issue.
What if ChristianaCare says the shooting was a “targeted, isolated” incident?
The Wilmington Police characterization is a description of the criminal case, not a legal conclusion binding on the civil case. “Targeted” and “isolated” describe the immediate circumstances of the shooting; they do not describe whether the hospital had notice of the shooter’s history, whether security protocols were adequate, or whether prior workplace-violence incidents had been documented. Each of those is a separate question, and each is discoverable. The defense will repeat “targeted, isolated” throughout the case; the family’s lawyers will answer with the evidence the discovery produces.
How Attorney911 Helps Families After a Hospital Shooting
Attorney911 is a trial firm. We have spent more than twenty-seven years in courtrooms — including federal court — fighting for families whose lives were torn open by someone else’s conduct. Ralph Manginello, the firm’s managing partner, is a former journalist who became a trial lawyer, a point guard on a New England prep school championship team before that, and the lawyer who built this practice on the idea that people in a legal emergency deserve someone who picks up the phone. Lupe Peña, the firm’s associate attorney, spent years inside a national insurance defense firm — the rooms where adjusters and their software decided how to deny, delay, and devalue claims exactly like yours. He now sits on your side of the table, in English or in Spanish, and brings the defense playbook home.
The work we do in a case like the Wilmington Hospital shooting begins on the day you call. We send the preservation letters. We identify the security contractor. We coordinate with the Delaware Attorney General’s office. We retain the experts. We file the comp claim so the family has the benefits it needs now, and we file the third-party complaint the moment the defendants are identified. We work the discovery until the case is built to the number the evidence supports, and we try it in New Castle County if the defense is unwilling to pay what the case is worth.
This is a national firm that takes cases like yours. Attorney911’s principal office is in Houston, Texas, and the firm’s Texas-licensed trial lawyers are admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. For Delaware cases of this kind, we partner with experienced Delaware-licensed trial counsel through pro hac vice admission and joint representation, so that the family has both a national firm’s resources and a Delaware lawyer’s local knowledge. We evaluate the case, build the strategy, and connect you with the Delaware co-counsel who will be your day-to-day contact in Wilmington.
The consultation is free. You pay no fee unless we win. The firm has recovered millions of dollars for families across the country, and we have built our practice on the cases that other firms will not take. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. We tell you what the evidence can support, not what we would like it to be.
If you are a member of the family of the employee who was killed, or the surviving wounded employee, or a witness to the shooting, call us today. The preservation clock is running. 1-888-ATTY-911. We answer the phone. Hablamos Español. Visit our contact page or our full list of practice areas if you would prefer to reach us online.
The information on this page is general legal information about Delaware law and the options available to families after a hospital workplace shooting, and it is not legal advice for your specific case. The strategies described depend on facts that we will need to evaluate with you in a free consultation. Calling us does not create an attorney-client relationship; the relationship is created only after we have agreed in writing to represent you.