Theater Wants $700K From Aurora Shooting Victims

Cinemark is seeking to recoup legal fees after winning a civil suit
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 30, 2016 12:50 PM CDT
Theater Wants $700K From Aurora Shooting Victims
Cinemark, which owns the Century 16 movie theater in Colorado where 12 people were killed in 2012, is seeking nearly $700,000 from the victims and their families.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Cinemark, owner of the Aurora Century 16 movie theater where 12 people were killed in a 2012 mass shooting, is seeking nearly $700,000 in legal fees from victims and their families, Deadline reports. According to the Denver Post, more than two-dozen survivors and parents of those killed sued the theater chain for not hiring armed guards, not having enough security cameras, and generally failing to protect theater-goers from shooter James Holmes. An Arapahoe County jury ruled against the victims last month, clearing the way for Cinemark to seek reimbursement for $699,187 in legal costs.

A judge still has to approve that amount, and asking for the money may be a play on Cinemark's part to keep the victims from appealing the ruling. Another group of victims suing Cinemark in federal court had its case dismissed Friday by a judge who put the blame for the shooting squarely on Holmes, the Aurora Sentinel reports. Cinemark, the third largest theater chain in the country, will also be able to seek reimbursement for legal fees in that case, though it hasn't yet. (More Aurora theater massacre stories.)

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