Family Of Slain Danvers Teacher Colleen Ritzer Resovles Lawsuit

DANVERS, MA — The family of slain Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer said it has resolved a lawsuit against the architecture company that designed the section of the school where Ritzer was raped and killed in 2013.

The family had sought civil damages against DiNisco Design for what it said were security flaws that were overlooked in plans for the wing of the school where a 14-year-old student attacked and killed the teacher from Andover.

Philip Chism was convicted of aggravated rape, robbery and murder, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 40 years.

The family had sued DiNisco, the cleaning company at the school and the town of Danvers for negligence in 2016, but the town and cleaning company were later dropped from the lawsuit.

The family and DiNisco released a joint statement provided to Patch on the lawsuit's resolution saying: "This litigation was never about assessing blame on any civil defendant."

"The only person to blame for the murder of Colleen is serving a life sentence in prison," the statement said. "Through civil litigation, the Ritzers gained answers to questions related to school security at Danvers High School. DiNisco Design was helpful to the Ritzers' pursuit of those answers.

"School security is of paramount importance to the Ritzers and through the Colleen E. Ritzer Memorial Foundation, they will continue to emphasize the importance of improving school security for students and teachers.

"DiNisco Design joins the Ritzers in honoring Colleen's memory."

A trial date for the lawsuit had been set for October.

Terms of the resolution were not revealed.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)