After the accident, everyone involved with the construction of the Hyatt Regency denied any legal liability having to do with the collapse. This was true of everyone from the architects, engineers, and construction company, all the way up to hotel owner Crown Center Corporation and its parent company Hallmark.
Investigation of the collapse took months, but within a year, there were almost 350 lawsuits filed against those involved in the construction of Hyatt Regency that totaled over $3 billion, according to The New York Times. Some individual suits amounted to over $200 million.
Ultimately, at least 285 lawsuits ended up being settled for nearly $100 million. In a class action lawsuit, a $10 million settlement was approved by a federal district judge in January 1983. In the settlement, Hallmark Cards also agreed to pay $6.5 million to charities like Heart of America United Way and the Children's Mercy Hospital over the course of four years.
Popular Mechanics writes that the largest individual settlement that was paid out was $12 million to Sally Firestone, who had been standing on the second-floor walkway and lost the use of her arms and legs due to the collapse. But throughout all of the settlements, not a single defendant acknowledged any responsibility or fault. National Bureau of Standards investigator Edward Pfrang later stated that "you had a process of everyone wanting to walk away from responsibility" per The Kansas City Star.
