Who May Be Liable for a Mass Shooting?
The number of mass shootings in both the United States and Colorado has unfortunately been on the rise in recent years. If you or a loved one has been involved in one of these incidents, the Frickey Law Firm can help you explore various pathways to financial compensation.
You can pursue a civil lawsuit against the shooter themselves, but it is usually not your most viable legal option. There may be other parties who owed you or your loved one the duty of care to act reasonably under the circumstances. This duty of care can potentially have been breached in the circumstances that led up to the mass shooting.
Contact a personal injury attorney in Lakewood by calling us at 303-237-7373 to discuss your case and learn more about whether you may be entitled to compensation. We will handle your case with sensitivity and diligence, while fighting for your legal rights.
Various Parties Could Have Breached Their Duty of Care
If you or a loved one was a victim of a mass shooting, you have legal options to pursue compensation. Typically, you would see compensation directly from the party that was responsible for what happened. Although you may be able to file a civil lawsuit against the perpetrator, this is not the most promising route to receive compensation because they may have limited financial resources. Bear in mind that there may be numerous other victims who are also pursuing compensation, and there may be little to nothing that you can recover from the shooter themselves.
Nevertheless, there are some potentially responsible parties whom you may be able to sue for the injury. If you can prove that they did something wrong, you may be entitled to significant financial compensation. These potential defendants include:
The Property Owner
Property owners owe a duty of care to those whom they invite on their property. They may be held liable if they fail to provide adequate security, and it was a cause of the shooting. This is the most likely defendant in a mass shooting civil lawsuit.
A Security Company
The property owner may have taken adequate security measures by outsourcing security to a third party. Here, you can hold the security company legally liable for what happened if they were negligent in performing their own duties. Any factual inquiry would center on what security guards actually did at the time.
An Employer
A mass shooting may have occurred on the job, and it may have been perpetrated by an employee. Although you cannot sue your employer under most circumstances, you may be able to file a lawsuit when you or a loved one was shot by an employee who was working for another company at the time of the shooting.
School Districts and Universities
If the victim of a shooting was a student, it is possible to hold the school district or university where the incident occurred responsible. Students are owed a higher duty of care when they are at school. A school district may have had poor security measures in place, or they could have missed the signs of a potential mass shooter.
The Gun Manufacturer or Seller
Mass shooting victims are increasingly turning to lawsuits against companies that manufacture or sell guns. Although there is a federal law in place that provides immunity to gun manufacturers, it is not always unlimited. You can sue a gun manufacturer or seller when they sold the gun to someone whom they should have known would use the firearm illegally. You may also sue the gun manufacturer or seller when they committed a predicate violation of federal law in their own activities. Suing a gun manufacturer allows you to go after a so-called “deeper pocket” that may have more money to pay your damages. Although it is not always easy to file and win this type of lawsuit, you can and should name a gun manufacturer or seller as a defendant in a lawsuit when they have done something wrong.
Not all victims of mass shootings file lawsuits to seek compensation. However, there is no reason why you should not, when someone else (besides the shooter) may have shared in the blame for what happened. An experienced personal injury attorney can investigate the circumstances of the mass shooting to determine whether there is someone else whom you can sue.
Contact a Lakewood Personal Injury Law Firm Today
Call a personal injury lawyer in Lakewood at The Frickey Law Firm to learn how we can pursue Justice for you and your family in the wake of a mass shooting. You can schedule a free initial consultation by filling out an online contact form or by calling us today at 303-237-7373.
Attorney Janet Frickey wants to do the right thing. An impassioned litigator and client advocate for more than 40 years, Ms. Frickey is the owner and managing attorney of The Frickey Law Firm who focuses in workers’ compensation and personal injury. Learn more here.