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MGM Resorts International has now reached a settlement with families of the victims of the Las Vegas attack. Javier Rojas/Pi/Zuma Press/PA Images

$800 million settlement reached to compensate families bereaved by Las Vegas gun massacre

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed over the 2017 shooting that claimed 58 innocent lives, the worst in modern US history.

MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL has reached a settlement that could pay up to $800 million to families of the 58 people who died and hundreds of others who were injured in a Las Vegas shooting attack, lawyers have said.

It is a major step to resolve hundreds of lawsuits in multiple states that seek compensation for a range of physical and psychological injuries from the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history in October 2017.

Victims say the casino giant failed to protect 22,000 people at a country music concert venue it owns or stop the gunman from spending several days amassing an arsenal of assault-style weapons and ammunition in his suite at the Mandalay Bay resort.

The amount of the settlement depends on the number of plaintiffs who take part, according to a statement from Las Vegas law firm Eglet Adams, which represents nearly 2,500 victims and made the announcement just days after the second anniversary of the 1 October 2017 massacre.

“Our goal has always been to resolve these matters so our community and the victims and their families can move forward in the healing process,” said Jim Murren, chairman and chief executive of MGM Resorts.

An independent administrator will be appointed by a court to dole out money from the settlement fund, lawyers and MGM said.

They expect to wrap up the work by late next year.

MGM’s insurers will fund a minimum of $735 million

Depending on the number of victims who participate, the company will contribute more, up to $800 million, according to the victims’ lawyers.

“Today’s agreement marks a milestone in the recovery process for the victims of the horrifying events of 1 October,” Robert Eglet, a lead plaintiffs’ counsel, said in the statement.

“While nothing will be able to bring back the lives lost or undo the horrors so many suffered on that day, this settlement will provide fair compensation for thousands of victims and their families.”

A country music festival became a killing ground when a 64-year-old retired accountant and high-stakes video poker player fired out the windows of his hotel room into the crowd.

Stephen Paddock killed himself as authorities closed in, and they found 23 assault-style weapons in his room, many equipped with bump stocks that allow firearms to fire rapidly like machine guns.

Police and the FBI found that Paddock meticulously planned the attack and theorised that he may have sought notoriety.

But they said they never determined a clear motive.

As legal claims piled up, MGM drew outrage when it filed lawsuits last year against more than 1,900 victims, arguing it had no liability to survivors or families of the murdered victims under a federal law enacted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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    Mute dublindamo
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 8:23 PM

    Hard for a hotel to stop a lone shooter bringing guns into his room when firearms are legal. If legislators did their job the US wouldn’t have many of these incidents

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    Mute John Murray
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 8:45 PM

    @dublindamo: Could you imagine how sophisticated their security systems would be? How did they not suspect a thing? 23 assorted semi-automatic weapons and piles of ammo?
    Mad!

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    Mute Jim Buckley Barrett
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 9:54 PM

    @John Murray: John , how many hotels have you been to that had security check points, x ray machines, body searches?

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    Mute milton friedman
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 10:03 PM

    @John Murray: Yes, because people who go to hotels never have big bags or suitcases.

    I don’t know how none of the hotel staff noticed it.

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    Mute Dave
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    Oct 4th 2019, 2:45 AM

    @Jim Buckley Barrett: plenty around the world actually do have X-rays and body scanners. Lagos, Dhaka, Dakar, Manila and India to name but a few.

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    Mute Rob Hall
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    Oct 4th 2019, 6:45 AM

    @Dave: and every place you named is a hot spot for terrorism. Lad Vegas hardly fits on that list

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    Mute paul kelly
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    Oct 4th 2019, 7:48 AM

    @Rob Hall: Gun violence is actually quite common in the US, and many schools have metal detectors – this could easily be extended to Hotels.

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    Mute Darren B
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    Oct 4th 2019, 9:47 AM

    @John Murray: considering I’ve never stayed at a hotel in the developed world with high security, it’s safe to say you’re talking nonsense.

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    Mute John Murray
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    Oct 4th 2019, 11:00 AM

    @Darren B: Can I get a latte with my egg McMuffin Darren, cheers mate, and the jacks needs cleaning again !!

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    Mute Ben Coughlan
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    Oct 4th 2019, 1:56 PM

    @dublindamo: absolutely ludacris that their reaction is to sue rather than push to change the law.

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    Mute Chris lynch
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 8:28 PM

    How is the hotel liable for this?

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    Mute Stephen Finnegan
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 8:36 PM

    @Chris lynch: third paragraph.

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    Mute Karl Charlie
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 9:08 PM

    @Chris lynch: they are liable because they dont search every single bag and suitcase that enters the hotel for guns and ammo!!

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    Mute Darren Byrne
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 10:41 PM

    @Stephen Finnegan: they’re not liable. It was just cheaper than fighting hundreds if not thousands if law suits which even if they won they’d never get legal fees back on

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    Mute Cowboy Paddy
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    Oct 4th 2019, 12:25 AM

    @Darren Byrne:
    I think they were looking after the security for the concert. This is why they get public liability insurance.

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Oct 4th 2019, 9:38 AM

    @Chris lynch: If they are admitting some technical liability by settling I think its a disappointing precedent. They have no moral liability if you ask me. Now if the case was against the NRA or whoever made those bump-stocks he used to circumnavigate the law on fully-automatic weapons it would be a different story…

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    Mute Ciaran Farrelly
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    Oct 6th 2019, 12:11 AM

    @Chris lynch: I was wondering when someone would ask this question.

    That compensation will have to come from somewhere and guess who will end up paying the burden of it? It’s certainly not the insurance company anyway, maybe initially but It will be passed on to the next consumer.

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    Mute Tomás Barrett
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 10:32 PM

    NRA should be made liable for this and any other such incident.

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    Mute Ciaran Farrelly
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    Oct 6th 2019, 12:13 AM

    @Tomás Barrett: What are you waffling about??????????

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Oct 3rd 2019, 11:42 PM

    That law firm represents 2,500 victims? So lots of people who weren’t hurt think they are entitled to make money out of the tragic deaths of others? They should be glad to be alive.

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    Mute Home CCTV
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    Oct 4th 2019, 3:45 AM

    @Squiddley Diddley: it’s almost like damage doesn’t just come physically but also mentally. People like you are better off being quiet. Do I think the hotel is responsible for this? No. But you saying people who didn’t get injured are not entitled is idiotic. Some of these people will have life long PTSD and mental suffering from the slightest bang they hear when outside because of this.

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Oct 4th 2019, 8:07 AM

    @Home CCTV: I have considered your point, but given that A. You think I should stay quiet B. You admit yourself the hotel is not responsible and C, we are talking 2,500 people, I am going to stand by my statement. Compo culture, greed, we know ourselves what it’s like.

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    Mute Tomas
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    Oct 4th 2019, 4:31 AM

    Another strange situation that doesn’t add up,,

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    Mute Amanda
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    Oct 4th 2019, 3:01 AM

    I know we can’t put a price on a life, but nearly $14million dollars per family is absolutely insane.

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    Mute Home CCTV
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    Oct 4th 2019, 3:47 AM

    @Amanda: I’m sure if your child was killed at it, 14 million wouldn’t be close to the amount of cash you’d want to replace your dead child.

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    Mute Seaniecp
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    Oct 4th 2019, 4:52 AM

    @Amanda: ‘we cant out a price on life ‘ but 14m is too much. What?

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Oct 4th 2019, 11:40 AM

    @Amanda: For the record its not 88 million among the 58 families with fatalities, it also includes ‘hundreds of others who were injured’, so the figure could be a lot less.

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Oct 4th 2019, 11:41 AM

    @Squiddley Diddley: not 800million

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    Mute Vin
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    Oct 4th 2019, 12:02 PM

    @Amanda: 800,000,000/2500 = $32,000

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    Mute Vin
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    Oct 4th 2019, 12:04 PM

    @Vin: Sorry $320,000. Missed a zero

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Oct 4th 2019, 12:21 PM

    @Vin: It’s hardly an even split, though.

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    Mute Ben Coughlan
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    Oct 5th 2019, 8:59 AM

    @Squiddley Diddley: break a leg in the US and you could be looking at a bill of 150k. So that actually isn’t as insane as it looks..

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