Editing Hyatt Regency walkway collapse (section)

== Legal ==
The Missouri Board of Architects, Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors found the engineers at Jack D. Gillum and Associates who had approved the final drawings to be culpable of gross negligence, misconduct, and unprofessional conduct in the practice of engineering. They were acquitted of all the crimes with which they were initially charged, but the company lost its engineering licenses in Missouri, Kansas and Texas, and lost its membership with the [[American Society of Civil Engineers]].<ref name="20 years later" /><ref name="ua" /><ref name="engineering" />

In the months after the disaster, more than 300 lawsuits sought a cumulative total of {{nowrap|$3 billion}} (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|3000000000|1981|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|USD}}).<ref name="Reverberating" /> Of this, at least {{nowrap|$140 million}} (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|140000000|1981|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|USD}}) was actually awarded to victims and their families, under hotel owner Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation.<ref name="ThinkCase">{{cite web |title=Hyatt Regency Disaster {{!}} ThinkReliability, Case Studies |url=https://www.thinkreliability.com/case_studies/root-cause-analysis-of-the-hyatt-regency-disaster-cautionary-tale-about-assumptions/ |website=ThinkReliability |access-date=December 15, 2022 |archive-date=July 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706010253/https://www.thinkreliability.com/case_studies/root-cause-analysis-of-the-hyatt-regency-disaster-cautionary-tale-about-assumptions/}}</ref> The single largest award was about {{nowrap|$12 million}}, for a victim who required full-time medical care.<ref name="ap" /> A class-action lawsuit seeking punitive damages was won against Crown Center Corporation, a subsidiary of [[Hallmark Cards]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The Hyatt Regency disaster 20 years later |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/bconbear/cm500/class/djc010718.html |author=Staff writers |work=[[Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce]] |date=July 18, 2001 |access-date=December 15, 2022 |archive-date=July 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725015623/http://faculty.washington.edu/bconbear/cm500/class/djc010718.html |url-status=live }}</ref> That lawsuit yielded $10 million, including $6.5 million dedicated as donations to charitable and civic endeavors that Hallmark called a "healing gesture to help Kansas City put the tragedy of the skywalks' collapse behind it." Each of the approximately 1,600 hotel occupants from that night was unconditionally offered {{US$|1000|long=no}}, of which 1,300 accepted by the deadline. Every defendant{{mdash}}including Hallmark Cards, Crown Center Corporation, architects, engineers, and the contractor{{mdash}}denied all legal liability, including that of the egregious engineering faults.<ref name="Reverberating" />