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Litigiousness of society grows more troubling

So crazy has the lawsuit climate become that a court filing this week probably should have come as no surprise. Still, it is more than a little unsettling.

MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mandalay Bay casino-resort in Las Vegas, has filed suit against hundreds of victims of the mass shooting there last year.

Fifty-eight people were killed and hundreds were wounded in the rampage by Stephen Paddock, who committed suicide as police closed in on his room at the Mandalay Bay.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed by and on behalf of Paddock’s victims. They allege negligence by various parties accused of not doing enough to prevent the massacre.

MGM’s suits are an attempt to avoid being held liable. Actions filed in Nevada and California courts maintain MGM has “no liability of any kind …”

The company’s lawsuit is complex. In essence, it argues it has no liability because it employed a security company that was certified by the federal government. For that reason, MGM insists, any liability lawsuit against the company is precluded.

A judge or judges will have to decide that, of course. But MGM clearly is seeking what amounts to a get-out-of-jail-free card.

The very fact such a possibility exists, without regard to any other action — or negligence — by the company, is disturbing.

So, too, is MGM’s decision that filing lawsuits against hundreds of shooting victims is a good idea for any reason.

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