Kingfisher Public Schools is attempting to recoup more than $7 million that has been spent or is dedicated to a settled civil lawsuit.

The school district on Monday officially filed a claim with the bankruptcy executor for the Oklahoma Schools Risk Management Trust.

The claim was for $7,151,580.62.

Monday was the deadline for claims to be filed against the former group insurer, which is in the final stages of bankruptcy.

The claim seeks reimbursement for legal fees as well as the costs associated with the judgment in the settlement of the case brought against the school district and four coaches by Mason Mecklenburg.

The 2021 Kingfisher High School graduate filed the suit in July 2021 and alleged a culture of hazing and abuse within the KHS football program, of which Mecklenburg was a part from 2017-2020.

The district settled with Mecklenburg for $5 million last year.

KPS was left on the hook to handle all costs associated with the case after its insurer during the period of the alleged incidents OSRMT - was beginning its steep decline.

Dr. Daniel Craig, the superintendent at Kingfisher when the district was sued by Mecklenburg, filed a claim with OSRMT and said it was declined Oct. 5, 2021.

When Craig contacted OSRMT, he was told the district wouldn’t be covered by that company for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was the fact OSRMT was becoming insolvent.

OSRMT saw a massive decline in the amount of school districts that opted to use the trust as a group insurer on top of the large amount of claims it paid out.

Craig said he was told by an OSRMT representative that even if the company had the money for a claim, the district wouldn’t be covered because its policy didn’t ecompass that type of claim.

The latest claim came after a vote of the Kingfisher Board of Education at its Oct. 7 meeting to direct its legal counsel to follow through with it.

In addition to the $5 million settlement, the district has paid more than $1.4 million in legal fees associated with the case.

Andy Evans, the district’s interim superintendent, said there is no timeline on the status of the claim.

“We just know we needed that filed by Oct. 21, so we did that,” Evans said. “Now we’ll wait to see what’s decided on its status, but it’s something we needed to do.”