Las Vegas massacre lawsuits go from a trickle to a flood
Defendants include weapons manufacturer
• A slew of lawsuits have been filed by victims of the Las Vegas attack, which left almost 60 dead and more than 500 wounded. The alleged gunman, Stephen Paddock, shot people attending the Route 91 country music festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort on the night of Oct. 1.
Now, numerous lawsuits have been filed alleging the entertainment company that put on the show and the hotel acted negligently in the run-up to the mass shooting.
The first complaints were filed within days of the attack. Those initial cases ranged from victims seeking class action status and traditional negligence suits targeting the estate of Paddock — who authorities said killed himself — the hotel, the concert organizers and the venue.
Late last week, Las Vegasbased Titolo Law Office along with the Chicagobased firm Romanucci & Blandin filed 14 lawsuits in Clark County district court related to the shooting. The defendants in the new lawsuits include MGM Resorts International, Mandalay Corp., Live Nation Entertainment Inc., Live Nation Group, Paddock’s estate, bump stock maker Slide Fire Solutions LP, and several unidentified manufacturers and retailers.
“We continue to be devastated by the tragedy at the Route 91 Festival, heartbroken for the victims, their families and the countless people forever impacted by this senseless act of violence and are co-operating fully with the active FBI investigation,” Live Nation said in a statement. “We are, however, unable to comment specifically on pending litigation.” Other defendants didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Luca Iclodean, who attended the festival and was shot in the torso, is among the new plaintiffs. “MGM had a duty of reasonable care in the protection and safeguarding of persons on the Mandalay Bay and MGM premises,” Iclodean alleged in the complaint. The lawsuit alleges the hotel didn’t maintain a safe environment for a litany of reasons, including failing to surveil those entering and leaving the premises, failing to monitor the closed-circuit television system, failing to record activity on the 32nd floor, and failing to discover Paddock’s weapons arsenal in his hotel room.
A final claim in the lawsuit cited the defendant’s failure to “have gunshot detection devices in the hotel rooms.” The new lawsuits seek unspecified damages, though the claims could easily total millions of dollars or more.
LiveNation was accused of breaching its “duty of reasonable care” by failing to mark emergency exits at the festival, train staff in emergency preparedness, or hire security staff.
Other plaintiffs, including Heather Gooze and Shawna Lott, alleged they were “severely injured” attempting to escape the area where the event was held.
Slide Fire Solutions, a bump stock manufacturer, is also named as a defendant in the new cases. The firearm accessory allows a semi-automatic weapon to fire more rapidly, mimicking a fully automatic weapon, and a dozen such devices were found in Paddock’s room, though their manufacturer wasn’t disclosed by authorities.
The Texas-based company is also being sued by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.