Broken windows are seen on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino after a lone gunman opened fired on the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- MGM Resorts International filed complaints Friday against the victims of the October 1 shooting in Las Vegas.
- The company said it cannot be held liable for deaths, injuries, or other damages that occurred in the massacre that killed 58 people.
Mandalay Bay hotel and casino's corporate owner MGM has filed a lawsuit against the victims of last year's mass shooting in Las Vegas, claiming it has no liability for the massacre that killed 58 people.
MGM Resorts International filed complaints in California and Nevada on Friday arguing that it cannot be held legally responsible for the October 1 deaths, injuries, or other damages.
The company said that any claims against MGM parties "must be dismissed."
MGM cited a 2002 federal act that provides protection from liability to companies that use "anti-terrorism" technology that can "help prevent and respond to mass violence," according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The company argues that the federal act should be put to use in this case because the security it hired for the Route 91 concert was certified by the Department of Homeland Security for "protecting against and responding to acts of mass injury and destruction."
Las Vegas lawyer Robert Eglet, who is representing several victims, said the court filings are a move to get the cases heard in federal court instead of state court.
He argued that the lawsuits are a "blatant display of judge shopping" that "quite frankly verges on unethical."
"I've never seen a more outrageous thing, where they sue the victims in an effort to find a judge they like," the lawyer said. "It's just really sad that they would stoop to this level."
An MGM spokeswoman released a statement on the lawsuits, saying: "The Federal Court is an appropriate venue for these cases and provides those affected with the opportunity for a timely resolution. Years of drawn out litigation and hearings are not in the best interest of victims, the community and those still healing."
Gunman Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and injured hundreds more when he opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas on October 1.
He shot more than a thousand bullets into the crowd as he fired a gun from his Mandalay Bay Hotel room.