MGM Resorts International has sued hundreds of victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history in a bid to avoid liability for the gunfire that rained down from its Mandalay Bay casino-resort in Las Vegas in October 2017. The company argues in lawsuits filed in Nevada, California, New York and other states that it has “no liability of any kind” to survivors or families of slain victims under a federal law enacted after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. The lawsuits target victims who have sued the company and voluntarily dismissed their claims or have threatened to sue after a gunman shattered the windows of his Mandalay Bay suite and fired on a crowd gathered below for a country music festival. High-stakes gambler Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and injured hundreds more before killing himself. Victims with active lawsuits against MGM don’t face the company’s legal claim. MGM says the 2002 law limits liabilities when a company or group uses services certified by the US Department of Homeland Security and mass attacks occur. The company says it is not liable because its security vendor for the concert, Contemporary Services Corporation, was federally certified at the time of the 1 October shooting. MGM claims the victims – through actual and threatened lawsuits – have implicated CSC’s services because they involve concert security, including training, emergency response and evacuation. “If defendants were injured by Paddock’s assault, as they allege, they were inevitably injured both because Paddock fired from his window and because they remained in the line of fire at the concert. Such claims inevitably implicate security at the concert – and may result in loss to CSC,” according to the MGM lawsuits. CSC’s general counsel, James Service, said it doesn’t comment on litigation involving the company or a third party. MGM wants a court to declare that the US law “precludes any finding of liability” against the company “for any claim for injuries arising out of or related to Paddock’s mass attack”. 01:55 ‘People started dropping around us’: Las Vegas shooting told by witnesses - video report Brian Claypool, an attorney who was at the music festival during the shooting, called the lawsuits a “hypocritical manoeuvre” that will turn into a “public relations nightmare for MGM”. “We collectively view this as a bullying tactic to intimidate the survivors who are rightfully seeking social change and redress through the litigation process,” said Claypool, who represents dozens of victims. MGM spokeswoman Debra DeShong said Congress determined that federal courts should handle any lawsuits over mass attacks where federally certified security services were provided. “While we expected the litigation that followed, we also feel strongly that victims and the community should be able to recover and find resolution in a timely manner,” she said. Attorney Robert Eglet, who represents victims in a lawsuit pending in federal court in Nevada, decried the casino operator’s move, saying the company was filing complaints nationwide in search of a sympathetic judge. He told AP he had been flooded with calls from victims. “This is absolute gamesmanship. It’s outrageous. It’s just pouring gasoline on the fire of [the victims’] suffering,” Eglet said. “They are very distraught, very upset over this. MGM is trying to intimidate them.”<doc-sep>"I've never seen a more outrageous thing, where they sue the victims in an effort to find a judge they like," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "It's just really sad that they would stoop to this level."<doc-sep>The surveillance footage is remarkable in its banality. It shows Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas gunman, in the days before his mass shooting. He cuts a lonesome figure as he moves through the Mandalay Bay hotel — playing video poker for hours in the casino; buying snacks at a newsstand; watching a LeBron James interview in a restaurant; and at times, chatting with hotel staff. But this picture of an ordinary gambler disguises a far more sinister intent. Through this previously unseen footage, we’ll show how Paddock methodically planned his attack, and how, over seven days, hotel staff unwittingly helped him to move bag after bag of weapons to his room. The videos, obtained exclusively by The New York Times from MGM Resorts, begin on Monday, Sept. 25. At the V.I.P. counter, he checks into a suite on the 32nd floor, and books an adjoining room, which he will check into four days later. He doesn’t immediately bring in suitcases. Instead, he spends two hours in the hotel, going to his room and eating at a sushi restaurant downstairs. Just before 5 p.m., he drives his Chrysler Pacifica minivan to the valet area, where a bellman loads the luggage cart with five suitcases. Paddock asks to stay with his luggage, so the bellman brings him through the service elevators to his room — something hotel management says is not unusual. Paddock spends the next four hours in his room, and at 9:40 that night, he leaves the hotel, bringing two suitcases with him. He drives one hour to Mesquite, where he lived. Cellphone records show that he stays the night and spends most of Tuesday here. Around 8 p.m., Paddock returns to Las Vegas, but he stops at the Ogden, a downtown condominium complex. This is interesting for a few reasons. Paddock was also renting rooms here for the entire week. He checked in the previous Friday, when a music event called the Life Is Beautiful festival was being held in the surrounding streets. Internet records recovered by the police show that he searched for that festival’s lineup and its expected attendance. This was similar to his research of the Mandalay and the Route 91 Harvest Festival, which he would later attack. So, the Ogden and the Life is Beautiful festival could have been used for planning, or may even have been a target. Later Tuesday night, Paddock returns to the Mandalay and a different bellman helps him to move seven more suitcases to his suite. Again, he uses the service elevator. He tips the bellman, who had no way of knowing these cases were packed with guns and ammunition. He gambles for eight hours until morning. Paddock was a regular at the Mandalay, and several casino hosts knew him. The videos show their interactions as being completely normal and in no way alarming. Remember, in two days, Paddock has brought 12 cases upstairs. He spends most of Wednesday in his room, and that evening repeats a similar pattern. He leaves the Mandalay, again carrying two suitcases. He stops at the Ogden and drives home to Mesquite. On Thursday, he buys a .308 bolt-action rifle from a gun store and visits a nearby gun range before driving back to the Mandalay. That night, he again uses the valet service and a bellman to carry a white container and three suitcases to his room. His arsenal of weapons is growing. Again, he gambles through the night. It’s now Friday, and at 8 p.m., the Route 91 Harvest Festival will open in the fairgrounds across from the Mandalay. Paddock stays in his room until around 3 p.m. and uses his laptop while the suite is cleaned. He checks into the adjoining room, 134, using the name of his girlfriend, Marilou Danley. He also tells cleaning staff to leave behind the food-service cart. Two days later, Paddock would use this, and one other service cart, to create a surveillance ring during his attack. Overnight, he makes a brief trip to Mesquite. Arriving back at the Mandalay at 6 a.m. with two more suitcases. Soon after noon on Saturday, he places do not disturb signs on both room doors. He declines housekeeping. He takes an elevator to the valet area and sits, waiting for his car. He carries two more bags to his room. He gambles some more, and that night he makes a final trip to Mesquite, returning to the Mandalay at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. He gambles through the night in the high-limits slots area, and returns to his room at 7:37 a.m. It’s 12:16 p.m. when we see Paddock going back to the parking garage. The guests exiting the elevator have no idea that in 10 hours, this unremarkable figure would commit the worst mass shooting in modern American history. He returns from his car, bringing two suitcases and a smaller bag inside. Since Monday, he has brought at least 21 cases, two smaller bags, a laptop bag and a container to his room. This is the last time we see Paddock, arriving at the 32nd floor. Through the day, he opens, closes and locks both rooms repeatedly. At thirty-six minutes after 9, he locks the deadbolt to room 135 for the last time. Four minutes later, Jason Aldean, who’s headlining the Route 91 festival, begins his act. Paddock then turns the deadbolt to room 134. At 10:05, his shooting rampage begins. In under 10 minutes, he would kill 58 people and injure over 700, before taking his own life. He had amassed 23 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Almost six months since the attack, Paddock’s motive remains unknown.<doc-sep>
A lawsuit filed by MGM Resorts International, owner of the Las Vegas hotel from which Stephen Paddock fatally shot 58 people and wounded hundreds, is drawing outrage from survivors of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The suit filed against hundreds of the victims of the rampage Oct. 1 outside the Mandalay Bay hotel claims the entertainment giant has "no liability of any kind." MGM said in a statement the filing was meant to provide a "timely resolution" for shooting victims who sued or will sue in the aftermath of the attack during the Route 91 Harvest Festival. MGM said litigation filed against it "must be dismissed." “The unforeseeable events of October 1st affected thousands of people in Las Vegas and throughout North America," MGM Resorts spokeswoman Debra DeShong said in a statement. "From the day of this tragedy, we have focused on the recovery of those impacted by the despicable act of one evil individual." More:'There’s people shot everywhere! ': Las Vegas shooting 911 calls released More:Documents detail terror, chaos during deadly Las Vegas shooting rampage Brian Claypool, a survivor of the rampage who represents 75 survivors and victims' family members, called MGM's lawsuit "a stunt" that won't survive a court challenge. "I am still in therapy once a week, and this is their way of trying to solve the problem," he said. "It’s shifting responsibility and minimizing their blatant negligence." Robert Eglet, whose firm represents hundreds of people in the case, dismissed MGM's claim as "outrageous" and accused the company of trying to intimidate victims. Very few of his clients have filed suit and some never will, he said. "In my 30 years of practice, this is the most reprehensible behavior I have ever seen a defendant engage in," Eglet said. "They are trying to victimize these people twice." MGM's lawsuit claims the case must be dealt with in federal court under terms of the post-9/11 Safety Act, which provides incentives for development and deployment of anti-terrorism technologies. The company says the security firm it contracted for the concert, CSC, was approved by the Department of Homeland Security, thus released from liability under the act. Eglet and Claypool said that release does not extend to the hotel. "The Safety Act doesn't apply to them, it applies to CSC," Eglet said. "MGM has nothing to do with CSC." Eglet said there was no reason to file the suit since the issue of jurisdiction is already being argued in court. He said MGM is "judge shopping." "They are trying to find a judge they like," he said. "All they have done is cause a tremendous amount of stress, pouring gasoline on the fire." Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia, said the company may be able to convince a federal judge with its arguments, but that would come at a price. "Even if MGM is successful, that may not outweigh the adverse publicity for the company that the suit generates," he told USA TODAY. MGM took a hit on social media. "This is just OUTRAGEOUS & WRONG," tweeted JoAnn Smith, whose profile says she is a security officer in Las Vegas. Crypto Contrarian tweeted that "being a Las Vegan, I must speak out about this. Can MGM not see how harmful this will be?" Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds from a 32nd-floor hotel room overlooking the concert. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the room. Numerous lawyers in Las Vegas feature the shooting on their websites, some calling out MGM and the concert promoter for providing inadequate security. "A gunman bringing more than two dozen firearms into a hotel room, including military-style assault weapons, is almost unthinkable," the Ladah Law Firm says on its website. "There are serious questions about the security procedures at the Mandalay Bay." The write-up says, "If you so much as take a casino chip off of a table you will no doubt be immediately surrounded by security guards; yet, nothing was done in this case." Claypool said MGM should spend money on safety consultants, not lawyers developing "desperate arguments" designed to avoid responsibility. "Fixing security would be the socially responsible thing to do," he said. "But instead they’re offending every person on the planet with their moral indignity."