On 10/1/17 Stephen Paddock rained gunfire from a 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay into a music festival crowd of 22,000. The massacre left 58 dead and injured nearly 500. Police believe Paddock killed himself afterwards.
Predictably, on 11/20/17, attorneys filed negligence lawsuits on behalf of more than 450 victims. The defendants are MGM Resorts International, the corporate owner of both the Mandalay Bay resort and the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert venue and Live Nation Entertainment, the concert promoter.
We all express our sorrow and support to each and every victim. We all condemn this monstrous act of violence. However, what could a concert promoter have done to prevent an unknown shooter from accessing any of the numerous high points surrounding the locale? Hotels are open to the public at large. While hotels may have a general duty to exercise “reasonable care” to protect guests, hotels are almost never liable for criminal acts committed on hotel property. Many state laws insulate innkeepers from such liability.
Hotels cannot ascertain the mental stability of every guest or exclude anyone with criminal background. Innkeepers cannot reasonably be expected to scan all bags or require a guest to pass through a metal detector at each entry. It defies common sense to believe the hotel owner and operator, and a concert promoter, are liable for the victims’ damages under these circumstances. While crime victims may need and deserve compensation for their tragic losses, there isn’t always a responsible third party. This Las Vegas massacre appears to be such a case. I hope the judge and jury will agree, despite their understandable sympathy for the victims.
We should not tie up our courts with such frivolous claims. The efforts should go into memorializing the victims.