RICHMOND -- The state has received four dozen notices of possible lawsuits stemming from last year's shootings at Virginia Tech, but many of those who have filed claims have tentatively agreed to a settlement with the state.

The attorney general's office had received 48 notices of claims against the state as of Thursday, a day after the deadline for filing notices of possible lawsuits resulting from the April 16, 2007, shootings that left 33 Tech students and faculty members dead. State law requires claims against the state to be filed "within one year after such cause of action accrued."

The attorney general's office had received 40 claims as of April 10, when Gov. Tim Kaine announced that "a substantial majority" of shooting victims and families of those killed in the rampage had agreed in principle to a settlement with the state.

Details of the $11 million settlement have not been disclosed, but lawyers for 21 families who agreed to the package said it would provide financial compensation, health benefits and other assistance. Kaine said details of the settlement will be disclosed once it is completed and signed.

Many of the claims filed near the deadline were perfunctory notices designed to ensure continued participation in the claims process. Some claims filed over the past year have been more extensive, detailing injuries and ongoing suffering and, in some cases, aiming sharp criticism at the university's handling of the crisis.

For example, the parents of slain Tech professor Kevin Granata attached a personal letter to Kaine that included criticism of the Tech administration. Joseph and Mildred Granata of Toledo, Ohio, wrote that university officials should have canceled classes after gunman Seung-Hui Cho killed two students in a campus dormitory on the morning of April 16, 2007. More than two hours later, Cho killed 30 people and himself in Norris Hall.

"If we sound bitter, we are," the Granatas wrote. "The Virginia Tech Administration had plenty of time to cancel classes and close its doors that day after the first shootings. But they did not; perhaps because they did not want to have to close the school for a second time that year. If they had taken action, many lives could have been saved including our son Kevin's."