Route 91 Harvest litigation mounts up with new CA suits

Promoter Live Nation and hotel operator MGM Resorts have been slapped with another five lawsuits by the victims of the Route 91 Harvest mass shooting.

The five new suits, which also target the estate of shooter Stephen Paddock, have been filed in Los Angeles superior court, and follow the previously reported complaints lodged with courts in Nevada.

The largest of the lawsuits, reports news agency Reuters, was filed on behalf of 450 people who were either injured in or witnessed the shooting at the Las Vegas country music festival, which also left 59 people, including Paddock, dead. The other four, meanwhile, were brought by families of people who were killed or severely injured.

Similar to the Nevada suits – one of which, by shooting victim Paige Gasper, has now been withdrawn in favour of the lawsuit filed in California, where Live Nation is headquartered – the victims accuse MGM Resorts and its subsidiary, Mandalay Corp, which owns the hotel, of failing to properly monitor Paddock’s activities, train staff members and employ adequate security measures.

The five new suits, which also target the estate of shooter Stephen Paddock, have been filed in Los Angeles superior court

Live Nation is accused of negligence for “failing to provide adequate exits and properly train staff for an emergency”.

A court hearing on who will be appointed to administer Paddock’s estate is scheduled for 7 December.

Interestingly, while two of the Nevada lawsuits targeted Slide Fire Solutions, which manufactured the ‘bump stock’ device that allowed Paddock to achieve simulated automatic fire from semi-auto weapons, Slide Fire is not named in California, as lawyer Muhammad Aziz says most of his clients support the right to bear arms. “We want to focus on hotel and venue security, not turn this into a gun rights case,” he comments.

Live Nation does not comment on pending litigation.

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