Specific Utah Law Could Derail Charlie Kirk Family's Wrongful Death Case: Legal Experts
A Utah state law would be a high barrier to clear if Charlie Kirk’s family sues Utah Valley University over the security lapses the family said are linked to his death.
On Sept. 9, Kirk’s family filed a notice of claim that preserves the family’s right to sue. The notice was filed one day before the one-year anniversary of Kirk’s death on Sept. 10, 2025.
Although the notice cites multiple ways in which deficient security efforts arguably contributed to Kirk’s assassination, a Utah state law could mean that any lawsuit would quickly be blocked, according to Fox News.
The state gives governmental officials broad immunity from lawsuits, even when they fail to properly perform their duties, and Utah Valley University is a public college.
“Unfortunately, Charlie Kirk’s family is going to have a very difficult time prevailing in a wrongful death case in Utah,” Tenielle Brown, a University of Utah law professor, said.
“Utah’s government immunity statute is phrased in such a way that says even if the state and UVU were reckless, they retain immunity in cases that arise out of a battery, and that would include gunshot wounds,” she said.
“There have been a number of cases where the plaintiffs and the family of the victims have sued for either wrongful death or battery,” Brown added.
“And in some cases, the government did behave recklessly, and they could show carelessness and recklessness and the plaintiffs were not able to prevail because it arose out of a battery. And that’s unusual. Most states don’t have that broad of a statute,” she continued.
Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, said wrongful death claims against governments are hard to win when the death was caused by a third party.
“I’ve handled lack of security cases, including lack of security cases against the government,” Rahmani said. “They are tough because you are trying to hold the police or city, county, or state responsible for someone else’s criminal actions.”
Rahmani said a lawsuit could possibly succeed if it is based on college Police Chief Jeffrey Long telling Kirk’s team “I got you covered” after they expressed security concerns.
“That means they’re gonna argue that they assume the responsibility to make sure Charlie Kirk was safe, and they failed to do so,” Rahmani said.
“In cases where you have the government taking on a duty, that tends to be better than simply arguing that the government has a duty to protect everyone because we know that murders happen all the time, and you can’t sue the government just because someone is killed.”
Campus police allegedly did not have a written security plan or hold a security briefing in advance, the notice of claim said. The briefing also called the location picked for Kirk to speak a “fishbowl.”
“The UVU Parties could have declined to approve the Tour event in the outdoor quad location, or could have moved the venue indoors or to a more secure location, as it had done for controversial speakers in the past,” the notice said.
The notice said the college devoted only six police officers to security that day.
“On information and belief, Chief Jeffrey Long requested approval from then-UVU President, Astrid Tuminez, to allocate more than the six officers — which represented only 25% of the UVU police force — but his request was denied,” the notice said.
“The UVU Parties’ planning was so deficient that when Mr. Kirk was shot first responders were not available and Mr. Kirk was transported to Timpanogos Regional Hospital in a private vehicle, not an ambulance,” the notice said.
The bottom line? “Through a series of stunning failures and reckless decisions, the UVU Parties created a foreseeable danger to Charlie,” the notice continued.
“Those decisions ultimately rendered Mr. Kirk helpless to the rooftop shooter in an assassination that could have been avoided had the UVU Parties only taken reasonable steps to plan and oversee a safe event, steps outlined below that have been standard practice for other universities hosting controversial speakers,” the notice said.
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