********* – MGM Resorts International has sued hundreds of ******* of the deadliest **** ******** in modern U.S. history in a bid to avoid liability for the ******* that rained down from its ******** Bay casino-resort in *********.

The company argues in lawsuits filed in Nevada, California, New York and other states this week and last that it has “no liability of any kind” to ********* or families of slain ******* under a federal law enacted after the Sept. 11 ********* *******.

The lawsuits target ******* who have sued the company and voluntarily dismissed their claims or have threatened to sue after a ****** shattered the windows of his ******** Bay suite and ***** on a crowd gathered below for a country music festival.

High-stakes gambler Stephen ******* ****** 58 people and ******* hundreds more last year before ******* himself. ******* with active lawsuits against MGM don’t face the company’s legal claim.

MGM says the 2002 law limits liabilities when a company or group uses services certified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and **** ******* occur. The company says it is not liable because its security vendor for the *******, Contemporary Services Corp., was federally certified at the time of the Oct. 1 ********.

MGM claims the ******* _ through actual and threatened lawsuits _ have implicated CSC’s services because they involve ******* security, including training, ********* response and **********.

“If defendants were ******* by *******’s *******, as they allege, they were inevitably ******* both because ******* ***** from his window and because they remained in the line of **** at the *******. Such claims inevitably implicate security at the ******* – and may result in loss to CSC,” according to the MGM lawsuits.

CSC’s general counsel, James Service, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it doesn’t comment on litigation involving the company or a third party.

MGM wants a court to declare that the U.S. law “precludes any finding of liability” against the company “for any claim for ******** arising out of or related to *******’s **** ******.”

Brian Claypool, an attorney who was at the music festival during the ********, called the lawsuits a “hypocritical manoeuvr” that will turn into a “public relations nightmare for MGM.”

“We collectively view this as a bullying tactic to intimidate the ********* who are rightfully seeking social change and redress through the litigation process,” Claypool, who represents dozens of *******, said in a statement.

MGM spokeswoman Debra DeShong said Congress determined that federal courts should handle any lawsuits over **** ******* where federally certified security services were provided.

“While we expected the litigation that followed, we also feel strongly that ******* and the community should be able to recover and find resolution in a timely manner,” she said in a statement Tuesday.

Attorney Robert Eglet, who represents ******* in a lawsuit pending in federal court in Nevada, also decried the casino operator’s move, saying the company is filing complaints nationwide in search of a sympathetic judge. He told AP he has been flooded with calls from *******.

“This is absolute gamesmanship. It’s outrageous. It’s just pouring gasoline on the **** of (the *******’) suffering,” Eglet said. “They are very distraught, very upset over this. MGM is trying to intimidate them.”