Federal judge rules Aurora theater shooting was foreseeable

[happyslug]

54. This is a MOTION for Summary Judgement, all facts claimed by the Movie Theater are presumed TRUE

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, any party can ask the Court for a Summary Judgement. Summary Judgement is made where there are NO disputes as to facts OR even if the facts claimed by the other side are true, that side still loses.

Notice NO weighing of the facts, no decision as to the facts of the case, just a ruling that under Law, even if the Plaintiffs PROVE everything they claim, they still lose.

That is a Motion for Summary Judgement. Thus the Judge did NOT decide the facts of the case, all the judge did was ASSUME the facts claimed by the Plaintiff are true and made his ruling based on that assumption.

The Judge then ruled, that as a matter of law, the Movie Theater could be held liable for the shooting, even if it is common practice in the Movie Theater business NOT to have electronic censors or live bodies at the exit doors to make sure they are closed EXCEPT when the Theater is being empty and to make sure no weapons enter via such exit doors.

Remember the shooter did NOT bring his weapons within into the theater when he bought a ticket. Instead the shooter, used the ticket to access the theater, and he then prop open the exit door and took his weapons into the theater via the unmanned exit doors. Those exit door could NOT be opened from the outside, but could be prop open by someone on the inside and then be used to re-enter the theater.

People using exit and emergency entrances to enter a theater has been done for decades (and when it comes to stage plays centuries). Thus it is foreseeable that someone would use such exit doors as the shooter did. The real argument was, was it foreseeable for a person to bring in weapons via such doors? The Judge said YES in theory, but it still has to be proved at trial.