Survivors from the Aurora shooting massacre ordered to pay theater chain $700,000 in legal fees after unsuccessful lawsuit
By Liam Quinn For Dailymail.com and Associated Press 00:45 EST 01 Sep 2016, updated 10:19 EST 01 Sep 2016
- Survivors of Aurora theater massacre ordered to pay $700,000 in fees
- Victims tried to sue Cinemark for not doing enough to prevent shooting
- After a court ruled against them, the chain asked for fees to be recovered
- The money cover cost of preserving evidence, travel and other expenses
- Six jurors sided with Cinemark in May in a civil lawsuit filed by 28 plaintiffs
- Gunman James Holmes killed 12 and wounded 70 on July 20, 2012
Survivors of the Aurora theater massacre have been ordered to pay the theater company $700,000 because it allegedly needs the money to cover its legal fees.
Attorneys for Cinemark made the request to receive the massive payment in June, after a jury ruled against the survivors who attempted to sue the chain for not doing enough to prevent the massacre that saw James Holmes kill 12 people and injury 70 others in July 2012.
The company's lawyers at the time told a judge the money is needed to cover the costs of preserving evidence, retrieving and copying records, travel and other expenses - including $500,000 that was used to get experts to testify on its behalf, the
Los Angeles Times reports.
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Survivors of the Aurora theater massacre have been ordered to pay the theater company $700,000 because it allegedly needs the money to cover its legal fees
The nation's third-largest theater chain had been unsuccessfully sued by survivors of the shooting carried out by gunman James Holmes (pictured) on July 20 2012
After months of meticulous planning, he threw gas canisters into the crowd of more than 400 and then opened fire with a shotgun, assault rifle and semi-automatic pistol
The judge has pleaded with the survivors to accept a settlement deal of $150,000 in compensation from the chain during the trial, however they turned it down after a mother whose son was shot dead said she would not accept.
One of the victims, Marcus Weaver, told the newspaper it felt like: 'either seek justice and go into debt'.
A frustrated Weaver said earlier this year: 'Theaters aren’t any safer. It’s almost like everything was for naught.'
Courts in Colorado allow the winning side of a case to attempt to recover fees spent in the trial.
The scene inside the theater after the shooting is seen, with bullet holes marked in seats and popcorn covering the floor
The chain's lawyers at the time told a judge the money is needed to cover the costs of preserving evidence from the theater (pictured), retrieving and copying records, travel and other expenses
It comes after jurors in May ruled in Cinemark's favor over 28 victims and their families who argued the nation's third-largest theater chain should have done more to prevent the attack that killed 12 people and left more than 70 others injured.
They sued in state court, saying security lapses allowed for the July 20, 2012 attack at a midnight premiere of a Batman film.
A judge at the same time also dismissed a similar lawsuit in federal court, saying Cinemark's lack of security was not a substantial factor in the deaths.
In both lawsuits, victims cited a lack of guards and no alarm on an emergency exit door that would have sounded when James Holmes slipped into the crowded theater and started shooting.
A rifle used by Holmes in the shooting that left 12 people dead is seen on the floor near blood stains
Evidence markers are placed in the chains inside the theater where 12 were killed and 70 were injured in 2012
The nation's third-largest theater chain argued it could not have foreseen the attack, and nothing could have stopped the heavily armed Holmes.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the state case have said they are considering appealing the verdict.
Cinemark attorney Kevin Taylor called it the first mass shooting at a theater 'in the history of American cinema,' arguing such shootings are still so rare that management could not have anticipated one at a theater with no history of serious violence.
'Mr. Holmes was completely unpredictable, unforeseeable, unpreventable and unstoppable,' Taylor told reporters after the verdict.
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Lawyers for the 28 plaintiffs argued that Cinemark and the theater's property owners, failed to employ security guards, CCTV cameras and silent door alarms on the exits
Holmes, who pleaded innocent by reason of insanity at his murder trial, was found guilty last summer. He was sentenced to life in prison.
After months of meticulous planning, Holmes slipped into the auditorium, threw gas canisters into the crowd of more than 400 and then opened fire with a shotgun, assault rifle and semi-automatic pistol.
He had rigged his apartment with bombs.
His lawyers showed video of him naked and running head-long into a jail cell wall during his criminal trial, saying he suffered from schizophrenia and was not in control of his actions.
Cinemark has 338 theaters in 41 states. If Cinemark had lost the case, it could have forced theater companies across the U.S. to adopt costly security measures that could have increased ticket prices significantly, experts said.
i need to get off the internet for the rest of the day
Yeah I glossed over this critical piece of information , my bad. 
