Hundreds of Las Vegas Victims File Suit Against Live Nation, MGM Resorts
Hundreds of the victims of the mass shooting that took place in Las Vegas on Oct. 1 have banded together to file suit against concert promoter Live Nation and MGM Resorts, which owns the Mandalay Bay hotel where the shooter conducted his rampage.
At least 58 people died and hundreds more were injured when a lone gunman opened fire on the audience during the final night of the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas from his Mandalay Bay room overlooking he concert site. According to the Associated Press, Houston-based lawyers Chad Pinkerton and Mo Aziz filed the new complaints in Los Angeles, just days after a negligence lawsuit filed in Nevada on behalf of 21-year-old shooting victim Paige Gaspar was dismissed.
The lawyers re-filed Gaspar's claim in Los Angeles, as well as two new wrongful death lawsuits and a filing on behalf of 450 people claiming injuries in the rampage, which is the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
The Victims of the Las Vegas Shooting
"Los Angeles is a better venue for fairness for our clients," Pinkerton tells the AP, adding, "There would be certain advantages for MGM to defend its case in Nevada." Pinkerton points out that a jury pool in Las Vegas might include people with direct or indirect ties to MGM Resorts, which employs more than 70,000 people.
Within 10 days of the shooting, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Vegas law firm of Eglet Prince filed suit against bump stock manufacturer Slide Fire Solutions and other manufacturers and retailers on behalf of three of the Vegas victims. That suit targets the bump stock devices the shooter used to modify semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns, which enabled him to wreak far more havoc during his attack. That lawsuit has the potential to become a class action.
Gaspar's original lawsuit charged Mandalay Bay and MGM Resorts with being "negligent or grossly negligent" for not noticing or taking adequate precautions against a guest stockpiling guns, and alleged that hotel staff had not been adequately trained to notice and report suspicious activity.
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