Stunning new Columbine charges

A key element of the families' immediate strategy is to force early discovery in the sheriff's cases, Gerash said. That will allow them to flush out information relevant to potential filings against the other parties. He also predicted Jackson would eventually consolidate several of the county lawsuits, but the maneuvers would be much more complex than a standard class-action case.

The first lawsuit against the sheriff came Tuesday, filed on behalf of the parents of Isaiah Shoels, also the first and only family to sue the killers' parents and gun manufacturers. Most of the initial suits charged the department with negligence before the massacre, but some also take on several deputies for their performance once the shooting began. The Shoels' suit says officers exchanged gunfire with Harris and Klebold, but then set up a perimeter to keep them from escaping, rather than chasing them into the school and trying to prevent the murders.

"The actions of the sheriff's department were the direct and proximate cause of the death of Isaiah Shoels," the suit reads.

Tuesday, Dale Todd, father of wounded student Evan Todd, described the perimeter as allowing the killers "full reign to murder."

Jackson's surprise ruling allows the families access to the draft report -- previously said to run 200-300 pages -- as well as hundreds of hours of unedited 911 tapes, helicopter videotapes of the attack, police radio transmissions and a Fire Department training tape. He temporarily denied access to 200 volumes of raw investigative reports and school surveillance videos, because he wouldn't have time to review them before the filing deadline.

The sheriff's department fought the access and, according to Gerash, threatened the families with countercharges of frivolous lawsuits if they filed.

With access to the information coming so late, many of the suits relied heavily on depositions from the family of Brooks Brown, a Columbine student who says he was warned by Harris to leave the school shortly before the massacre.

Most of the initial suits charge that the department failed to properly investigate a series of complaints by Randy and Judy Brown, including Harris' death threats against their son and his now infamous Web site. The Browns first reported the site to the department March 18, 1998, 13 months before the massacre.

Gerash has coordinated with the other lawyers, and described many of the suits as motivated by "the year and a month that [the sheriff's department] didn't do anything. They had deliberate indifference," he said.

The suits could lead to poetic justice for the Browns, who have become perhaps the most bitter adversaries of the department in the past year. Sources close to the family report that they were, and remain, close friends with the Klebolds and have been distraught that his murders and suicide were not prevented. But their initial dismay was nothing compared with their anger over the attacks their son Brooks suffered after Sheriff John Stone publicly accused him of involvement in the massacre.

For months Stone continued to insist that others were involved, despite protests from detectives performing the investigation. Eventually, he reversed himself, and now says he believes Harris and Klebold acted alone. The Browns are organizing a recall election of Stone and plan to begin circulating petitions this summer.

One of the biggest mysteries in this flurry of lawsuits had been whether the Klebolds would join the litigation. They filed a notice of intent to sue last October in advance of the deadline, but their attorney, Lisa Simon, announced Wednesday that they would not proceed against the sheriff.

• View blog reactions