Lawyers for families of victims of the Virginia Tech shootings reached an $11 million settlement with the state Thursday to avoid lawsuits.

Peter Grenier and Douglas Fierberg, who represent 21 of the 57 families involved in negotiations, released a statement saying the agreement includes "financial compensation, health benefits and non-monetary assistance for surviving family members and victims of the April 16, 2007, massacre at Virginia Tech."

Fierberg said he can't release details of the settlement because the agreement hasn't been finalized. But he said he is satisfied with it.

"We're pleased because we know with certainty that our clients and many others will receive substantial compensation and other benefits," he said.

Fierberg, a partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Bode & Grenier, added that he does not expect the agreement to be finalized before Wednesday. That's the one-year anniversary of the shootings that resulted in the deaths of 32 students and faculty and the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho.

"To be candid, the families are more focused on more personal things at the moment," he said.

Wednesday is also the deadline for families to file notice with the state that they may sue. The state attorney general's office has received 40 notices of claim from families of those killed and wounded.

The lawyers' statement says the settlement will reveal "previously undisclosed facts and information turned up by our firm's investigation that will enable the public to better understand the events which caused this senseless tragedy."

The office of Gov. Tim Kaine also released a statement Thursday, saying the state's proposal "has now been accepted by a substantial majority of the victims and victims' families." It also says details of the agreement will remain confidential as it is finalized but "ultimately, the agreements will be public."

Kaine said "it's a very positive thing" to reach an agreement before the first anniversary of the shootings, but insisted the "timing is much less important than trying to find some sort of agreement."

An earlier version of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press called for representatives for each of the 32 people killed to receive $100,000. Another $800,000 would be available to the injured, with a cap of $100,000 per person. Under that agreement, the injured would have health care expenses covered, and they and the families of those killed could seek additional money from a $1.75 million hardship fund. Virginia's legal maximum when suing the state in cases of simple negligence is $100,000.

The state typically pays for legal settlements out of its risk management account, but Kaine said the deal with Tech families "might be a bit more complicated." Kaine said he will elaborate after the settlement is signed.

He also said that legislative leaders will be briefed on the agreement.

By accepting the proposal, families would give up the right to sue the state, Tech, Blacksburg, Montgomery County or the New River Valley Community Services Board.

Several families did not return phone calls or chose not to comment on the settlement Thursday.

Roger O'Dell of Roanoke, whose son Derek O'Dell was wounded in the shootings, said Thursday that he didn't know any details about the agreement beyond the governor's statement.

O'Dell said last Friday that he hoped measures could be written into the agreement to benefit the broader campus community. He suggested state-funded programs to help people on campus deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Negotiations between the state and the families have been going on for months, and news about the process leaked out in March. Deadlines for families to decide on the earlier proposal were pushed back twice.

Adam Scales, a law professor at Washington and Lee University, said Thursday that he wasn't surprised an agreement was reached. He said shooting victims or their family members would have a tough time prevailing in a lawsuit against Tech, considering that the school would likely have been protected by sovereign immunity.

Sovereign immunity is a judicial doctrine that bars legal claims against the state under most circumstances.

And proving anything beyond simple negligence would be very difficult, Scales said. Simple negligence implies a brief inattention to detail or simple mistake that may happen to have terrible consequences. Gross negligence involves a larger mistake, but there's no precise test to determine it, he said. And willful misconduct implies knowledge that the action is wrong.

"You typically have to show a very high departure from what would be reasonable care," Scales said.

Kaine, who will be at Tech for remembrance ceremonies Wednesday, said that day should be dedicated to reflecting on the lives of the victims.

"If we can make it about that and less about 'What are the claims going to be?' and 'Is there still [an] adversarial litigation posture between the clients?' it kind of clears some of that off, hopefully, so that we can focus on what we really need to focus on next week."

Staff writer Laurence Hammack contributed to this report.