Persons Filing Colorado Shooting Lawsuits Face Uphill Task
Several lawsuits have been filed in the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado last month, which killed a total of 12 people and injured dozens of others.
The very first Colorado shooting lawsuit was filed by a man, whose best friend was shot and killed.
The first lawsuit filed the shooting incident has named the movie theater where the shootings took place, the doctors of James Holmes, the man believed to be responsible for the shootings, as well as the studio that produced the Dark Knight movie. In fact, Century Theaters is likely to be named in several personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits that will arise out of the shooting.
On the day of the tragedy, James Holmes, allegedly dressed in riot gear, stood up in the middle of the screening, and began shooting into the full house of theatergoers. 12 people sustained fatal injuries, and many others were severely wounded. In fact, many of the victims who were injured continue to remain in the hospital in a critical condition.
Holmes has already been charged, and is likely to plead insanity.
The number of lawsuits in the tragedy has begun to pile up. At least 2 lawsuits have been filed by José Baez, the criminal defense attorney who shot to national prominence last year, after he represented Casey Antony, the woman accused of murdering her daughter. Baez is believed to be representing at least 2 persons injured in the Colorado movie theater shooting.
However, the general consensus among the legal fraternity and premises liability attorneys is that many of the victims, who have filed personal injury lawsuits against the movie theater for inefficient or inadequate security, are likely find the going tough. It’s not easy to prove that a premises or property owner was negligent in his duty to provide a safe property. It’s important for the plaintiffs to show that the property owner or operator acted unreasonably, and should have known or must have known about the dangerous condition in the property.
At this point, it seems that there was no way that Century Theaters could possibly have predicted this mass shooting. Things would possibly have been different if James Holmes had been an employee of the theater, but he was not.