In a surprising and horrible turn of events, Cinemark, the owner of the movie theater where the Aurora shooting occurred in 2012, is now charging 4 survivors and family members of the victims $699,187.13 for legal fees associated with a previous lawsuit.
On July 20, 2012, James Holmes entered a movie theater that was screening The Dark Knight Rises and opened fire on the moviegoers after sneaking in and out of the exit door and using smoke canisters to blind the audience. He killed 12 people and wounded 70.
Forty survivors and families of the victims initially attempted to sue the movie theater for not having proper security in place on the night that the shooting took place, but they eventually lost the suit.
They alleged that the exit door used by the shooter should have had an alarm to alert personnel and other moviegoers of his suspicious activity. Prosecutors also said that a lack of armed security guards and gaps in the security camera footage assisted the assailant.
In the original suit, Cinemark offered the victims a very low settlement that was described by one assailant as a “slap in the face.” When it became known that the jury was going to rule in Cinemark’s favor, all but 4 of the victims dropped out of the lawsuit to avoid the possible legal fees.
Sure enough, after the ruling came out, Cinemark retaliated and filed a bill of charges for the nearly $700K in legal fees they paid throughout the proceedings. Only the 4 victims left in the lawsuit were charged with this bill, and a judge recently ruled that the victims were liable for the fees.
The 4 plaintiffs have since appealed the ruling, but the fact that they are being charged with these fees after experiencing such a tragedy by a chain that owns 480 movie theaters is absurd.
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