Five lawsuits were filed on Monday regarding the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on October 1st. The lawsuits were all filed in California, by attorneys representing hundreds of the shooting’s victims and their families.
The lawsuits go after the owners of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, Live Nation — the organizers of the music festival, and the shooter’s estate. Victims and their families are suing MGM Resort International, which owns Mandalay Corp, who they say failed to provide training and security staff that could have foreseen and perhaps prevented the attack.
They’re also suing Live Nation, the festival’s organizers, who they say failed to train their staff for an emergency such as this, and didn’t equip the festival grounds with proper exit routes.
Finally, the hundreds of plaintiffs are suing the estate of Stephen Paddock, the shooter, for assault and battery. Paddock, who took his own life in the attack, has a multi-million dollar estate comprised of real-estate investments across Texas and Florida.
The largest of the suits represents the collective grievance of 450 people — victims, witnesses, and their families. One of the attorneys working on these lawsuits told Rueters that they were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court for two reason. For one thing, most of the plaintiffs are from California, and had received some kind treatment in the state. For another, Live Nation Entertainment Inc. is based in California.
A court hearing has already been scheduled for December 7th to decide who will distribute Paddock’s estate.
Many suits have already been filed over the horrific tragedy, including several against Slide Fire Solutions — the company that made the “bump-stock” device that allowed Paddock to fire so rapidly. The attorney told Reuters that the issue was left out of the five cases on Monday, since many of the plaintiffs don’t support gun law reform.
“We want to focus on hotel and venue security, not turn this into a gun rights case,” he said.
