You will recall the tragedy that occurred at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado back in 2012. The mass shooting by gunman, James Holmes, killed 12 people and wounded 70 others. The attack happened as unsuspecting movie-goers watched a screening of The Dark Knight Rises.
Holmes was later sentenced to life in prison for the mass murders. But the story does not end there; victims and families of victims went forth to sue the Cinemark Movie Theater, the nation’s third largest theater chain.
The suit maintains that the theater did not take proper precautions to prevent something like this from happening. Cinemark answered that there were no measures that could have predicted something so horrific, nor was there anything that could have stopped James Holmes.
In May, 6 jurors sided with Cinemark, and now the theater’s attorneys want the victims to pay $700-thousand in legal fees. The company’s lawyers told the judge that they need the money to cover the costs of doing business in such a huge case. Expenses, including preserving evidence, travel and retrieving and copying records.
In Colorado, the winning side of such a lawsuit is allowed to recover legal fees; the judge has not yet made a ruling on Cinemark’s request.
But, while Cinemark is allowed to do so, is it the right thing to do? Imagine that you had taken your family to see the popular movie that night at the Cinemark theater in Aurora. A theater is one of the places that we never think of anything bad happening, much less anything as horrific as what did occur that night.
While the jury found in favor of the company, should Cinemark now go after these families for their court costs? Granted, the horrible actions of James Holmes could not have been foreseen, but is recovering court costs from the victims’ families going too far? What do you think?
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