A Nevada Supreme Court decision may make things easier for Las Vegas shooting victims who are suing MGM Resorts.

In 2010, a California couple, Carey H. and Lorenzo R., were assaulted inside the New York-New York hotel and casino, an MGM property. Carey and Lorenzo were attacked by a man inside the casino and Carey suffered a fractured skull from the attack. A lower court initial dismissed their lawsuit on the ground that MGM had no knowledge that the attack would occur.

However, last October a three justice panel overturned that decision, ruling that the New York-New York should have foreseen the attack because there had been other incidents of violence there before.

New York-New York lawyers requested that all seven of the Nevada Supreme Court justices review the decision, arguing that the panel’s opinion presented public policy issues beyond the case. The lawyers also argued that the opinion imposed “a near strict liability for owners and operators of this state’s largest industry for the criminal misconduct of others.”

In a 6 to 1 decision, the Nevada Supreme Court found that a decision review by all seven justices was not warranted. The Supreme Court decision may make it harder for MGM Resorts International to fight future lawsuits from the Las Vegas shooting victims.

The lawyer spearheading litigation against MGM Resorts said that the decision may help Las Vegas shooting victims as they file lawsuits against Mandalay Bay, from which the shooter killed 59 people on October 1.

“It will be much more difficult for MGM and Mandalay Bay to resolve these cases without going to trial or settling,” the plaintiffs’ attorney said to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We can show through the totality of the events at MGM properties around world that this is something that could happen and was reasonably foreseeable, and they had a duty to provide adequate security and didn’t.”

However, Jean Sternlight, director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, said that MGM Resorts still has a strong defense under state law.

“Even with the Humphries decision plaintiffs will still face something of an uphill battle to prove that Mandalay Bay bears responsibility for the shooting,” she told the Review-Journal. “In particular, plaintiffs will have to show that the casino failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent an event the casino will argue was essentially unpredictable.”

An MGM spokeswoman said that the Supreme Court’s decision will not harm the company’s position in the Mandalay Bay litigation. “The attack that took place on Oct. 1 was a terrible tragedy perpetrated by one evil man,” she said. “We plan to defend ourselves against lawsuits resulting from October 1st and will give our responses through the appropriate legal channels. We do not believe the decision today in the Humphries case will impact our ability to defend ourselves.”

Las Vegas shooting victims may qualify for legal assistance. A qualified attorney could help Las Vegas shooting victims seek compensation through a legal claim. Victims may be able to recover losses from medical bills, PTSD therapy, missed work, disability, loss of earning capability, pain and suffering, funeral expenses, wrongful death, and more.