“It’s a real issue for the remaining plaintiffs who have yet to have their day in court”.
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Holmes, a graduate school dropout, was sentenced in July of last year 12 life sentences and 3,317 years in prison without the chance of parole.
Bern says that in an age of mass shootings, the nation’s third-largest theater chain should have been able to foresee the possibility of violence at a summer blockbuster that was expected to draw more than 1,000 people.
Marc Bern, an attorney for the victims who sued the theater, said he would ask a judge to set aside the verdict while his clients appeal.
Melisa Botdorf, whose ex-husband Gordon Cowden was killed in the attack, said the lack of accountability from the theater chain is risky.
But It could be years before a court decides whether to rehear the case.
The victims say Cinemark’s lax security allowed for the rampage. If Cinemark had been found liable, the victims could have testified about their injuries and medical expenses before a separate jury tasked with assigning monetary amounts to their suffering. If not, Godfrey said, it will be much harder to find jurors who haven’t heard about the first verdict in the theater company’s favor.
“There’s a certainty there will be some impact”, he said.
Taylor told jurors that it was the first mass shooting at a theater “in the history of American cinema”, saying such shootings are still so rare that management could not have anticipated one at a theater with no history of serious violence.
In the meantime, several victims have filed complaints against the Colorado Department of Corrections. The victims argued that mass shootings are so common now that it’s the responsibility of all businesses to be prepared for them. “They’re going to have a very hard time proving the psychiatrist didn’t meet proper stand of care”.
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Other suits have proved fruitless and risky.
