Making sense of a senseless act. Who do we hold liable?

By Anthony Lucido

November 7, 2020

Summary:

On October 1st, 2017, 22,000 people attended the Route 91 Harvest country music festival. The festival was located near Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. At 10:00 p.m., country music singer Jason Aldean would be giving his closing performance. Five minutes later the deadliest mass shooting in American history would occur.

Sixty-four-year-old Stephen Paddock fired his weapons from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel claiming the lives of 58 people and injuring 869 others. As law enforcement closed in on his room, Paddock committed suicide.

The following aftermath was met with support and gloom. Thousands lined up to donate blood, ceremonies were held, politicians, singers, and athletes came and held tributes. On the other end, misinformation spread, and no clear motive was ever found.

A month after the shooting, a lawsuit was filed against MGM Resorts International on behalf of the victims claiming MGM held some responsibility for the attack. In July 2018, MGM countersued the victims claiming they cannot be held liable for the attack. A year later in October 2019, a settlement was finally reached and MGM agreed to pay out $800 million to victims of the shooting.

Issue:

The initial issue to this case is who do we hold liable? According to Vanessa Romo, a reporter for NPR, the FBI found no motive after a year of investigation. Since there is no one to point to make sense of this senseless act, the blame falls onto other parties. We can blame Facebook for allowing misinformation, the U.S. Congress for its failure to do anything with gun control after mass shootings, or the ammunition dealer who sold Paddock the bullets who according to Steve Gorman, a writer for Reuters, actually plead guilty for an ammo licensing offense. In this case, we look to MGM for even allowing such a heinous act to occur. The secondary issue is a product of MGM’s atrocious response of suing the victims. Suing 1,900 mass shooting victims. You can imagine how that turned out.

Response:

A year after the shooting, MGM decided to sue the victims of the attack. According to Richard A. Oppel Jr., a writer for the New York Times, MGM was being sued by the victims for their negligence for allowing Paddock to carry out the act. Keep in mind Paddock spent five days preparing for the attack in the hotel. MGM countersued 1,900 victims citing the 2002 SAFETY Act which was passed after 9/11.

The SAFETY Act allowed companies to not be held liable for an attack under two conditions. The company has to verify its security with Homeland Security and the act has to be an act of terrorism. The U.S. definition of terrorism is that the attack has to be politically or socially motivated and no motivation was found. Another year later in October 2019, the courts ruled MGM was not protected under the SAFETY Act. MGM settled and agreed to pay the victims of the shooting $800 million.

Analysis – Personal:

I’ve mentioned this before, but I grew up in Las Vegas from kindergarten to the end of middle school. My dad was a florist for the top casinos there: Circus Circus, Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, the Cosmopolitan, and the Mandalay Bay. My mom worked at some of the casinos as well. We’d often go out to the casinos as there’s nothing else to do in Vegas. They were pretty, especially Luxor because you can see the beam of light wherever you were in the city.

Fast forward to 2017, I’ve grown to like California more than Vegas as there’s more trees, cool air, and diversity. That day I was laying in bed on my phone when “Breaking News” appeared on my feed. I was glued to my phone and rushed to my parents to tell them there was a mass shooting in Vegas. At some point, I had to put the phone down. Even though I’ve grown accustomed to California and had neutral feelings about Vegas, you can’t help but feel helpless. Mass shootings have become a common occurrence and to have it happen where you grew up is more than frightening.

Analysis – MGM Response:

MGM’s response is nothing, but appalling. I remember they’ve treated my dad well growing up, but with their response after the attack, I can only imagine Mandalay Bay will remain a dark scar in the city’s history. They are currently paying $800 million to the victims, and according to Ed Komenda, a writer for the Reno Gazette Journal, MGM reportedly has $1 billion in operating loss due to COVID-19. I would not be surprised if they close soon because of all this.

Analysis – Similar Case:

It is disheartening to even have a similar case to compare to, but the year prior was the Orlando nightclub shooting. In June 2016, A gunman entered the gay nightclub, known as Pulse, and claimed the lives of 49 people and injuring 58 others.

According to Jeff Weiner and Gal Tziperman Lotan, an editor and writer for the Orlando Sentinel, the city of Orlando wanted to buy the nightclub to turn it into a memorial for the victims and the LGBT community. However, the owner of the nightclub was not able to sell the nightclub as it was founded in memory of her brother. Instead what happened was the owner of the nightclub created the onePulse Foundation which provided aid to the victims, collected funds to create a memorial, and supported communities affected by the attack.

Analysis – What they should’ve done differently:

Literally everything. Suing mass shooting victims has to be one of the brainless and senseless moves a company could ever make. The victims spent their time grieving, recuperating, and overcoming the challenges which resulted from the event only to be met with even more a year later.

Provide support:

Like with the Pulse nightclub, MGM should have supported the community during this depressing event. Provide aid to victims, create a memorial, and support the community. By doing so they would have had a better image connecting with the affected communities and would probably not have to pay out $800 million due to collecting donations.

Make themselves a victim:

This was something in the previous case I had with Domino’s Pizza. Domino’s Pizza made themselves a victim in their crisis which helped them control the narrative. MGM could’ve done this and say, “No one could have expected this. We are shaken from the events which have unfolded and are mourning with the victims.” MGM could have made it out they were also a victim in the attack and are alongside the actual victims.

Conclusion:

A dark stain was left in Las Vegas that year not just by the shooting, but by MGM’s actions.

As we’ve seen case by case, if you plan on staying in the long run then community matters not money. Domino’s Pizza was able to bounce back from their crisis thanks to talking with the community and taking control of the narrative. The Pulse nightclub was able to recover from the shooting by connecting and providing support to the community. There is literally no excuse for MGM to have handled it the way they did.

Future mass shootings are going to happen and if any company ever wishes to come back from such attacks they best look at MGM as an example of what not to do.

References:

Gorman, Steve. “Seller of bullets to Las Vegas gunman pleads guilty to ammo licensing offense” Reuters, 19 Nov. 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lasvegas-shooting-ammunition/seller-of-bullets-to-las-vegas-gunman-pleads-guilty-to-ammo-licensing-offense-idUSKBN1XT2T5

Komenda, Ed. “MGM Resorts reports $1 billion operating loss in Q2” Reno Gazette Journal, 30 Jul. 2020, https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2020/07/30/mgm-resorts-reports-billion-operating-loss-quarter-2-covid-19-impact/5541086002/

Oppel Jr., Richard A. “MGM Resorts Sues 1,000 Victims of Las Vegas Shooting, Seeking to Avoid Liability” The New York Times, 27 Jul. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/us/mgm-resorts-sues-victims.html

Romo, Vanessa. “FBI Finds No Motive In Las Vegas Shooting, Closes Investigation” NPR, 29 Jan. 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/01/29/689821599/fbi-finds-no-motive-in-las-vegas-shooting-closes-investigation

Weiner, Jeff and Lotan, Gal Tziperman. “Pulse nightclub owner says she won’t sell to city” Orlando Sentinel, 05 Dec. 2016, https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-pulse-nightclub-no-sale-orlando-20161205-story.html