Agents sent letters criticizing the concept to teachers and school-board members, and one agency hired a lawyer who questioned the process on multiple grounds, prompting the district to retrace some steps, according to Mr. Lloyd and public documents.
The lawyers for suits in several of those states have filed a petition for all the cases nationwide to be heard in a court in their district, according to Catherine Odenbreit, a lawyer representing multiple plaintiffs in several state and federal suits filed in California.
Karen Steinhauser, a criminal-defense lawyer and former prosecutor in the Denver District Attorney's Office, said the state often files multiple murder charges if the nature of a crime matches more than one definition under state law.