In a ruling made on April 17th, a federal judge in Denver decided to allow a group of lawsuits to proceed against Cinemark USA, the owner of an Aurora movie theater where 12 people were killed and 70 injured last July when a heavily-armed gunman entered the theater and began indiscriminately firing upon the crowed. The judge dismissed the plaintiffs' negligence claims but is allowing the case to proceed on a premises liability theory. This news is a mixed result for the plaintiffs. While it is good news that the case may proceed, it can be harder to prove a case based on premises liability than negligence, so the plaintiffs and their attorneys may have their work cut out for them.
Colorado Law Favors the Property Owner
The Colorado Premises Liability Act (PLA), found at C.R.S. §§ 13-21-115, was enacted to provide greater protection to property owners than previously existed. The law classifies people on another's property as either trespassers, licensees or invitees. Under Colorado premises liability law, landowners owe their highest duty of care to invitees, which is the status of the moviegoers in this case. Still, a landowner is only liable to invitees for the owner's "unreasonable failure to exercise reasonable care to protect against dangers of which he actually knew or should have known."
In the present case, the shooter was able to exit the theater by a back exit, leaving the exit door propped open while he drove his car around to the back, armed himself heavily and re-entered the theater. The plaintiffs must first be able to prove that the theater owners knew or should have known of the danger, and then they must prove that the owners failed to use reasonable care to protect against that danger. Based on the arguments presented in the complaint, expect the plaintiffs to present evidence of a gang shooting and other incidents in the vicinity to put the theater on alert about the danger, and then to argue that the lack of security and any type of alarm or monitoring of the exit door was unreasonable.
Will these arguments be enough? The topic of the lawsuit was recently discussed on a segment of AirTalk, a program that airs on Southern California public radio station KPCC. You can listen to the 13-minute segment here. As mentioned on the program, there has been a lot of case law on this topic in Colorado, giving the defendants plenty of opportunities to argue to have the case dismissed on various grounds before it ever gets to trial.
A Long Way to Go for Victims of Aurora Movie Theater Shooting
The case of Axelrod and Traynom v. Cinemark, USA, which is a consolidation of 7 different cases with 13 plaintiffs, is currently scheduled for a three-week trial to begin May 5, 2014. The judge's ruling last week marked an important step in the case, but the shooting victims and their families still may have a long way to go before this case is resolved, hopefully with a favorable settlement of jury verdict.
The lawyers at Paulsen & Armitage, LLC represent victims of personal injury and wrongful death in Denver and throughout Colorado statewide. If you or a loved one have been hurt by the negligent or wrongful conduct of another, contact Paulsen & Armitage, LLC to speak with one of our caring, dedicated attorneys.
