Las Vegas shooting victims to receive $800 million settlement from MGM

On Oct. 1 2017, a Las Vegas shooting that occurred during the Route 91 Harvest Festival that left 58 dead and hundreds injured.

After a nearly year-long investigation, the FBI found no motive for the shooter and closed the case. 

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It was the deadliest mass shooting in history and occurred at Mandalay Bay, which is owned by MGM Resorts. 

Now, the owner of that hotel has agreed to pay $800 million in settlements to lawsuits filed by victims of the shooting, according to The New York Times. 

MGM faced nearly 2,500 suits involved with the event. They accuse the hotel of negligence in allowing shooter Stephen Paddock to stockpile weapons in his room. 

Police found 17 total guns at the scene and reported that shooter Stephen Paddock started to collect the weapons about a year before the attack, according to The Associated Press. After shooting into the crowd, the 64-year-old fatally shot himself as police closed into his suite in the high-rise casino hotel. 

Prior to the suits against the company, MGM sued 1,000 victims preemptively, trying to use the Support Antiterrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act to protect them from taking responsibility.  Congress passed the act after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to protect companies from liability in certain instances. 

Due to backlash, MGM eventually withdrew those suits and it’s unclear if they would’ve qualified for protection under the act. 

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Robert Eglet, one of the lawyers of a victim receiving a settlement, said it would be between $735 and $800 million and would cover nearly every lawsuit involved in the event. 

“While nothing will be able to bring back the lives lost or undo the horrors so many suffered on that day, this settlement will provide fair compensation for thousands of victims and their families,” Eglet said in a statement, adding that the deal “represents good corporate citizenship” on behalf of MGM. 

Depending on the exact final cost, MGM’s insurance will cover nearly all of it. The company’s coverage reaches $751 for the cast. That means the most they’d have to pay out of pocket is $49 million. 

As for the amount each victim will receive, that will be determined by an independent claims administrator. They will review expenses such as medical bills to determine such. 

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Also, the victims can still opt out of the settlement and take their cases to trial, but it is unknown at this time if any plan to do so. 

As previously stated, the FBI concluded there was no conspiracy or second shooter and were unable to determine a motivation for shooter as reported back in January. They did determine that Paddock has declining physical and mental health.

“It wasn’t about MGM, Mandalay Bay or a specific casino or venue,” Aaron Rouse, the agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office, told The Associated Press. “It was all about doing the maximum amount of damage and him obtaining some form of infamy.”

Paddock was a retired postal worker, accountant and real estate investor who owned rental properties. He was a frequent gambler. Police also characterized him as having no religious or political affiliations.

Also, the report states that Paddock’s “decision to murder people while they were being entertained was consistent with his personality.”

Police believe that he had planned to shoot himself after from the beginning. 

More than 20,000 people attended the Las Vegas festival. The shooting took place as Jason Aldean headlined the festival near 10 p.m.

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