tl;dr There were 41 survivors suing the movie theater for failing to secure the theater from an armed attacker. 40 voted to settle for a small amount of money.

tl;dr There were 41 survivors suing the movie theater for failing to secure the theater from an armed attacker. 40 voted to settle for a small amount of money. One rejected the settlement which caused it to fail. 37 then removed themselves as plaintiffs fearing they would lose the case and be responsible for the movie theater's legal costs. The four remaining lost the case and were held responsible for the movie theaters bills. And that's how 4 of the survivors ended up owing the movie theater $700,000 in legal costs.