Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Hundreds of Las Vegas shooting victims file lawsuits in California court

Reprints
Hundreds of Las Vegas shooting victims file lawsuits in California court

(Reuters) — Hundreds of victims of the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas filed five lawsuits on Monday in a California court against the operators of the hotel from which the gunman fired, the organizers of the country music festival he targeted and the killer’s estate.

The largest of the lawsuits was filed on behalf of 450 people who were either injured in or witnessed the shooting, while the other four were brought by families of people who were killed or severely injured.

All five cases were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Muhammad Aziz, a Houston-based lawyer heading the lawsuits, said they were filed in California because nearly all the plaintiffs were from the state and had been treated there. He noted that Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the event organizer, was a California-based company.

Stephen Paddock fired into the crowd gathered for the Route 91 Harvest Festival from a 32nd-floor hotel suite at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more, the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The shooter also killed himself.

The victims accused the hotel operator MGM Resorts International and its subsidiary Mandalay Corp., which owns the hotel, of failing to properly monitor Mr. Paddock's activities, train staff members and employ adequate security measures.

The festival goers also alleged Live Nation was negligent for failing to provide adequate exits and properly train staff for an emergency.

Several lawsuits have previously been filed in the shooting, mostly in Nevada state court. One of those filed on Monday was brought by college student Paige Gasper, who brought the first lawsuit over the mass shooting.

Ms. Gasper voluntarily dismissed the Nevada lawsuit on Friday.

Live Nation and MGM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The companies have previously declined to comment on lawsuits.

Plaintiffs also sued the shooter’s estate for battery and assault. The reportedly wealthy shooter is thought to have had multimillion-dollar real estate investments across Texas and California.

A court hearing about who will be appointed to administer Mr. Paddock’s estate is set for Dec. 7.

Slide Fire Solutions, the maker of the so-called bump stock device Mr. Paddock used to achieve a near-automatic rate of fire, was named in previous lawsuits over the shooting, but not in any of the suits filed on Monday.

Mr. Aziz said Slide Fire was not named because most of his clients supported the right to bear arms.

“We want to focus on hotel and venue security, not turn this into a gun rights case,” he said.

 

 

Read Next

  • Comp claims denied for off-duty California deputies injured in Las Vegas shooting

    Off-duty law enforcement officers from California who responded to the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history in Nevada may not receive workers compensation benefits because their injuries occurred out of state, but an attorney representing some of the officers predicted the courts will ultimately decide whether they are entitled to benefits.