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Cinemark is asking plaintiffs in Aurora shooting lawsuit for $700k

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Two Words

Member
This is like a company CEO having his car scratched by a toddler and then public ally suing the toddler for damages. Whatever is going to be gained in court is going to be lost in public image.
 

Effect

Member
I get that if you lose a case you have to pay the fees of the other side sometimes but this is a case where Cinemark really should just eat the cost and call it a day.
 

commedieu

Banned
This is like a company CEO having his car scratched by a toddler and then public ally suing the toddler for damages. Whatever is going to be gained in court is going to be lost in public image.

Pretty much. Its not worth it. Them being found innocent was more than enough, and I'd even donate to the families as the Theater to win good will.

So many ways this could have been handled.




But uh, Rah-Rah capitalism and lawsuits.
 

Cat Party

Member
I would hazard a guess that cinemark is planning to withdraw this request in exchange for the plaintiffs' agreement not to appeal. Collecting the $700k is probably not realistic anyway.
 
Not a link to the original lawsuit, but this article mentions some of their complaints:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...000912-1e0b-11e6-b6e0-c53b7ef63b45_story.html

Hm, so the theater usually had guards on the weekends, but didn't have any for the premier that night. A curious decision, but theaters generally aren't expected or required to provide any security.

I see they're also using the University of Colorado and another mental health professional for their handling of the shooter prior to the murders. There also seems to be a federal case pending still and the plantiff's lawyers say they will appeal this ruling.

Going to be ugly.
 
this fees-and-costs filing could be a heavy-handed ploy by the chain in an attempt to halt any such appeal in return for dropping its own financial action.

So it's a legal maneuver to try to prevent an appeal. Still kinda cold, but I guess that's the world of courts.
 

Ogodei

Member
I still say there should be a two-tiered system for this sort of thing. Beyond the fact that cases can already get thrown out for lack of merit, any case that goes through trial should come to an extra decision, where they jury decides whether the plaintiff had merit and shouldn't have to pay legal fees, or did not have merit and should have to do so. There's daylight between "this person got screwed" and "this person is owed recompense by law," and people who we all agree were in a bad situation shouldn't have to pay legal fees for trying to assert themselves.
 

mnannola

Member
Families sue Cinemark

Families lose lawsuit

Families need to pay legal fees.

That actually seems pretty standard, no? If someone sues me and they lose, why should I incur all those legal fees?
 

collige

Banned
Not a link to the original lawsuit, but this article mention some of their complaints and potential damages (at least $700,000 per case):
http://www.denverpost.com/2012/09/21/aurora-theater-shooting-victims-file-suits-against-cinemark/

According to the complaints, the theater had no security guards on duty for the midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” though guards had been at the theater on July 19, a Thursday.

Security personnel, including off-duty Aurora police officers, normally staffed the theater only on Friday and Saturday nights, even though the theater had a history of assaults, robberies and at least one gang-related shooting, the lawsuits allege.
That is a weak as hell argument. The theater increased their security as needed in response to incidents happening.
 

Malvolio

Member
Pretty slimy to go after the theatre. They were a victim of this tragedy as well. But hey, big faceless corporations have money and lawyers need things to sue, so why not? This is why not.
 

Azerth

Member
This is like a company CEO having his car scratched by a toddler and then public ally suing the toddler for damages. Whatever is going to be gained in court is going to be lost in public image.

wouldnt be more like the kid walks into car so fam sues CEO, fam loses CEO asks for the legal fees to be paid
 
Yeah... Technically they're in the right to do it... but you'd think they'd just eat the $700k rather than take the PR hit that they're sure to take over this. It can't be worth it.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
In the moment? They didn't decide to sue the next day.
Also, these litigations have been going on for a long time. If it was a spur of the moment thing it was entirely possible to stop pursuing instead of wasting money on it for years.
 
When you do civil cases like this people often sue tangentially related parties that have money. Like if you were pushed down the stairs at the mall you sue the mall owners because they have much more money and are more likely to just take the hit while you won't get any it f the individual. Like you don't sue the worker who have you the hot coffee that burned you, you sue McDonald's. It's kind of scummy in this case because it means it's about money and not any sort of injury. The families lost and they should have to pay up since they tried to shake up the wrong tree.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Sounds like Cinemark wanting to create precedent so that they are never sued over something like this again, because they fully expect that there will be more shootings in their theaters in the future :(
 

Jarmel

Banned
Families sue Cinemark

Families lose lawsuit

Families need to pay legal fees.

That actually seems pretty standard, no? If someone sues me and they lose, why should I incur all those legal fees?

Because you're a billion dollar corporation and the PR hit isn't worth 700k.
 

Chuckl3s

Member
Morally reasonable as well.

They aren't asking an exorbitant amount, they are asking for fair coverage of their legal fees.

Was it morally okay to sue the theater?

Don't get me wrong, it was completely stupid for the families to go after the theater. They were just looking for a quick closure and someone to blame. From a business standpoint, I don't think they should go after the families. They should just take the burn and move on. Its a bad PR that's probably going to backfire. If this actually goes through and they win, they are going to just add to the grief that the families already have.
 

Owari

Member
CinemarksFrontRowJoe.jpg

"Time to sue the families of shooting victims!"

Abhorrent. I know I'll never go to a Cinemark theater again.
 

Cat Party

Member
Families sue Cinemark

Families lose lawsuit

Families need to pay legal fees.

That actually seems pretty standard, no? If someone sues me and they lose, why should I incur all those legal fees?
Actually, in most US states, you would not be entitled to recover your fees in this instance. Colorado is an outlier (apparently).
 

marrec

Banned
Families sue Cinemark

Families lose lawsuit

Families need to pay legal fees.

That actually seems pretty standard, no? If someone sues me and they lose, why should I incur all those legal fees?

Totally standard.

Except that these were victims of a high-profile tragedy who, regardless of their original legal standing for sueing, will get 99% of the public sympathy.

Yes, us fucking weirdos on GAF realize that legally and technically Cinemark is acting perfectly reasonably, but real people don't give a shit about that.
 
I think they'll just write this off. But I had no idea why they would sue the theater in this instance.

Because general liability is typically a massive cash cow. The insurance company will settle unless the attorney is unreasonable, the liability rates go up slightly and life goes on.

Cinemark on the other hand is self insured the first $2.7 million sooooooo, they're more likely to fight a liability suit because it's coming out of their own pocket.
 
Why is this bad? Cinemark gets sued and a jury finds them unanimously not to be at fault. Now all they seek are attorney's fees for having to defend the suit? Seems reasonable to me.

You really must not have a heart then. Imagine you lose your son, daughter, father, friend, whomever in a senseless act of violence. You try and justify it by any means and blame the theater in a misguided attempt to find some reason in the violence. You lose that and the theater then demands money out of you even though you lost someone whose life can't be quantified.

Tell me, is it still reasonable then. They are well within their legal rights to do so and it'll stop any attempt at appeals, but look how bad the PR spin looks. In fact, the ball is in the victims' families' court. All they need to do is go on a couple talk shows, play up how emotionally devastating this move is, and Cinemark gets blown out.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
PR wise I'm very surprised they'd go this direction

Surprised they were being sued in the first place
eh good on them, people tried to profit from their families deaths with bullshit legal action. Get your money back cinema
 
Don't get me wrong, it was completely stupid for the families to go after the theater. They were just looking for a quick closure and someone to blame. From a business standpoint, I don't think they should go after the families. They should just take the burn and move on. Its a bad PR that's probably going to backfire. If this actually goes through and they win, they are going to just add to the grief that the families already have.

This is just nonsense. You don't sue a large corporation for quick closure.

The families that sued did this to themselves. They should have thought about this when they brought the horrible lawsuit.
 

Malyse

Member
Why is this bad? Cinemark gets sued and a jury finds them unanimously not to be at fault. Now all they seek are attorney's fees for having to defend the suit? Seems reasonable to me.

i mean... dont sue someone unless you want to pay the cost of the trial, if you lose.

I honestly don't see an issue with asking for attorneys' fees if it is their right. That money for a lawsuit doesn't just appear out of thin air. A bit heartless, sure, but did they really claim that the theater was to blame? I'd like to read more about their attorneys' reasoning there.

I don't know. If these are really just the legal fees and associated costs the chain had to pay in order to defend itself in court, then ... this actually seems fair enough? Why would they have to shoulder the costs of someone else suing them?

Seems fair.

I'm ok with this.

Families sue Cinemark

Families lose lawsuit

Families need to pay legal fees.

That actually seems pretty standard, no? If someone sues me and they lose, why should I incur all those legal fees?

Anything to discourage frivolous lawsuits is okay in my book.

So it looks like EmpathyGAF is on summer vacation.
 

Toxi

Banned
When you do civil cases like this people often sue tangentially related parties that have money. Like if you were pushed down the stairs at the mall you sue the mall owners because they have much more money and are more likely to just take the hit while you won't get any it f the individual. Like you don't sue the worker who have you the hot coffee that burned you, you sue McDonald's. It's kind of scummy in this case because it means it's about money and not any sort of injury. The families lost and they should have to pay up since they tried to shake up the wrong tree.
It's absolutely gross that most people still don't understand why the lawsuit on McDonalds was completely justified. The smear campaign against Stella Liebeck has been sadly effective.

Also, why the fuck would you sue an employee for simply acting under company policy?
 

Hazmat

Member
I'm torn. Cinemark should probably just eat the legal fees because this looks shitty (helped along by the very slanted thread title here), but they're entitled to the money under the law. The plaintiffs really had no case. Grief is an explanation for why people do irrational things, but it's not a valid excuse when it causes harm.
 

Jarmel

Banned
This is just nonsense. You don't sue a large corporation for quick closure.

The families that sued did this to themselves. They should have thought about this when they brought the horrible lawsuit.

Not everybody processes grief in the same way. Some become vindictive about it, it's not an unusual response.
 
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