VEGAS VICTIMS CLOSER TO GETTING $800M PAYOUT
LAS VEGAS — More than 4,400 relatives and victims of the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history could receive a total of $800 million in payouts from MGM Resorts International and its insurers by January, the casino giant and attorneys say.
After a year arranging details, Robert Eglet, the attorney handling the settlement of dozens of lawsuits, submitted documents asking a Nevada court judge to approve sweeping negotiations involving an eyepopping number of plaintiffs from nearly every state in the U.S., at least eight Canadian provinces, the United Kingdom, Iran and Ireland.
The line-by-line list of victims, identified by initials only, runs for more than 170 pages of a 225-page civil complaint seeking compensation and punitive damages from MGM Resorts. It accuses the casino company of negligence, wrongful death and liability in the 2017 shooting that killed 58 people and injured more than 850 others on the Las Vegas Strip.
A man with military-style weapons rained gunfire into a crowd at an outdoor country music festival from his room on the upper floors of the Mandalay Bay resort, which MGM Resorts owns.
The company acknowledged no liability. It will pay $49 million, while insurance companies will pay $751 million, both sides said.
A separate document declares the case settled and asks Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell to set a date to field any objections. Bell could set a hearing by the third anniversary of the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre.
“Clearly, the case has been settled in good faith,” said Eglet, speaking on behalf of his 2,000-plus clients and dozens of legal firms and attorneys in at least 10 states who initially filed lawsuits and eventually joined the consolidated settlement.
“Everybody recognized there are no winners in long, drawn-out litigation with multiple trials where people and the community are reliving the event every time we try a case,” he said Thursday.