Lawsuits against Aurora, Colo., theater can go forward, judge rules

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DENVER, April 18 (UPI) -- Lawsuits against the owner of an Aurora, Colo., theater, site of the July 2012 shooting incident in which 12 were killed, can go forward, a federal judge ruled.

Survivors and families of those killed have accused Cinemark, operators of the Century Aurora 16 theater, of a pattern of lax security that enabled the attack by suspect James Holmes, the Denver Post reported.

In his ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson said the 10 outstanding lawsuits against the theater chain pose questions of interpretation and application of law.

"I suspect that many people ... might, upon hearing about these lawsuits, have had reactions like, 'How could a theater be expected to prevent something like this?' I confess I am one of those people," Jackson wrote in his ruling.

Jackson dismissed a claim of negligence but let stand a claim of wrongful death, and another claim under Colorado's Premises Liability Act, court records state.