On Wednesday, a judge approved a $800 million settlement for the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting, which was the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Negotiations lasted months, but all sides of the class-action lawsuit against the owner of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas agreed to the settlement, plaintiffs’ attorney Robert Eglet told CNN.
Eglet also mentioned that there is a 30-day period for an appeal of the settlement.
“We are hopeful it will be completed in a manner that we will be able to disperse the victims’ funds before the end of the year,” Eglet explained.
More than 4,000 claimants will receive portions of the class action suit’s settlement. If the settlement disperses evenly, each claimant receives around $200,000. However, two retired judges agreed on by both sides will independently determine the exact amounts received by each victim.
Additionally, Eglet said only one of the potential claimants chose to opt out of the lawsuit.
Details of the 2017 Las Vegas Mass Shooting
The Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on a music festival crowd on the Las Vegas Strip. The October 1, 2017 shooting took the lives of 58 people. In addition, nearly 700 more people received injuries and wounds in the attack.
Afterward, authorities found Paddock dead on the floor of his hotel room. A self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head seemed to be the cause of the shooter’s death.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo spoke to the media in 2018 after the department completed its final criminal investigation report.
“What we have been able to answer are the questions of who, what, when, where, and how,” Lombardo explained. “What we have not been able to answer definitively is the why Stephen Paddock committed this act.”
MGM Resorts International owns the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas where the shooting occurred. Last month, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reports showed how MGM planned to pay the settlement. MGM reported $49 million of the settlement would come from the company’s funds – only around 16% of the total settlement. But, the remaining $751 million would be covered by the company’s liability insurance.
[H/T CNN]
