BLACKSBURG, VA, Mar. 15 (TLC News) – A jury ruled in favor of two families who lost loved-ones in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, awarding $4 million to each. Trial lawyer Robert Hall of Reston, VA, and in 2005 named a member of the Ten Leaders of Personal Injury Law of Northern Virginia, was lead counsel to the plaintiffs.

The families of the victims, Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde, had declined to settle with the university, as did most of the other victims’ families.

The jury determined that Virginia Tech was negligent after concluding that the university should have notified the student body following the discovery of two students who had been shot to death in a dormitory room on the morning of April 16, 2007. The larger shooting event — in which a mentally ill man shot and killed 30 more people — took place in another campus building a short time later.

The jury determined the families each deserved $4 million, but the award is likely to be reduced. State law requires such awards be capped at $100,000. The state attorney general’s office said it will appeal.