MGM to sue shooting victims citing Homeland Security law; MGM's CEO on Homeland Security advisory council

Today, @valued-customer posted on news that MGM Resorts is suing victims of the mass shooting at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas last year. Apparently, the company is taking this move in an attempt to avoid liability based on the fact that the company had hired a security vendor that was federally certified at the time of the shooting. The federal law MGM is citing with regard to federal security certification was enacted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Coincidentally, in 2013 President Obama appointed MGM Resorts CEO James Murren to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, part of the Department of Homeland Security – a potentially useful connection considering the Homeland Security argument MGM's lawyers are putting forward.

The company also boasts a bevy of lobbyists including a former US Secretary of Labor, a Secretary of the Interior, and a member of the Trump transition team.

MGM Resorts opened its own lobbying office in Washington last year just after Senator Harry Reid retired. Jessica Welman, writing for PlayUSA in January 2017, noted that, “Reid, who retired this month, played an integral role in lobbying efforts for the gaming industry. As a result, a longtime, guaranteed voice for the casinos at the table is gone. New offices like the one MGM just announced provides casinos with boots on the ground in the nation’s capital.”

The head of MGM Resort's Washington lobbying office is Ayesha Molino, a former attorney at the Commerce Department as well as the former chief counsel for Senator Reid. Adelle Cruz, also now working in the MGM lobbying office, was Senator Reid's former executive assistant.

Director William Bible also served on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, a government advisory group primarily making recommendations to President Clinton, Congress, and state governors regarding the Native American tribal gaming industry. It submitted its final report in 1999.