Cinemark Wants Latest Colorado Shooting Lawsuits Dismissed

Like it did with the first round of lawsuits, the theater chain has quickly responded to the most recent legal actions against it for the July 20 shooting at its Aurora, Colo, cinema. Late last week, Cinemark filed motions (read two of them here and here) to dismiss the October 11 civil complaints from parents of victims of the midnight The Dark Knight Rises screening shooting. The exhibitor seeks to have the claims dismissed because each one “fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted as a matter of law,” arguing that what happened was not its fault. “It would be patently unfair, and legally unsound, to impose on Cinemark, a private business in the entertainment industry, the duty and burden to have foreseen and prevented the criminal equivalent of a meteor falling from the sky,” said Cinemark’s lawyers in their October 18 motions. The shootings by alleged gunman James Holmes left 12 dead and 58 wounded. (more…)