FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — An ugly legal rift between the most seriously injured survivor of the 2018 Parkland high school massacre and the families of some of the 17 slain victims was settled Monday, with all sides now owning an equal share of the killer’s publicity rights and an annuity that could receive it.

Under a settlement signed by Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips, survivor Anthony Borges, the families of slain students Meadow Pollack, Luke Hoyer and Alaina Petty and fellow survivor Maddy Wilford now control any attempts by shooter Nikolas Cruz to take advantage of his name or likeness. or give interviews. Each of the five parties has veto power.

They would also share a $400,000 annuity that Cruz’s mother left him, if he ever receives it. The families of the victims and Wilford said they would donate their share to charity. Borges’ attorney, Alex Arreaza, said his client needs the money for future medical expenses.

The settlement was reached a day before the parties were scheduled to argue before Phillips whether a June settlement that Borges, 21, and his parents reached with Cruz should be rejected. He would have given Borges ownership of Cruz’s name and image, approval for any interviews he would give, and an annuity. Cruz once shot the up-and-coming soccer star five times in the torso and legs and nearly bled to death. He underwent numerous surgeries.

Lawyers for Wilford, who was shot four times, and the families of Pollack, Hoyer and Petty quickly countered with their own $190 million settlement with Cruz, which they admit they will never receive.

They said they were stunned by Borges’ settlement, saying there was a verbal agreement to work together in their lawsuit against Cruz. Other victim families and survivors did not choose to be part of that process.

“The purpose of the (Borges) settlement was to prevent Cruz from testifying. This is now shared with the other parents. That was never a problem,” Arreaza said in a statement.

David Brill, the lead attorney for the families and the Wilfords, said Arreaza and the Borges have “captured.” He emphasized that all five victims and families in the settlement now have a say if Cruz ever speaks publicly, not just Borges.

“This agreed order fully validates the position we have taken and which the Borges and their attorney, Alex Arreaza, have shamelessly defamed us for,” Brill said in a statement.

The fight became public at a court hearing in September, with each side accusing the other of lying. An exasperated Phillips at one point compared their arguments to a contested divorce, one she was granting. She asked the parties to negotiate a settlement.

The animosity began during negotiations over how to split a $25 million 2021 agreement with Broward County schools. The families of the 17 killed insisted that Borges receive $1 less than he would have received as an acknowledgment that they suffered a greater loss.

Arreaza believed Borges deserved $5 million of that pot because he would have a lifetime of medical expenses. That led to his client being removed from the group when he wouldn’t budge. The fight continued during negotiations over a $127 million settlement that families and surviving victims reached with the FBI over its failure to investigate a report that Cruz was planning a mass shooting. The Borgeses eventually reached their own settlements.

All of the families of the victims, survivors and others who suffered psychological distress from the shooting still have a lawsuit pending against Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson, who was assigned to the school. They say he failed to follow Cruz during his six-minute time. Peterson was acquitted of criminal charges last year. The sheriff’s office and two former school security guards are also being sued.

A court date has not been set for that trial.

Cruz, 26, pleaded guilty to the shootings in 2021. He was sentenced to life without parole in 2022 after a jury spared him the death penalty.