Victims of the Aurora movie theater shooting will have waited nearly four years before they can try to convince a jury that the theater’s owner should be held liable for the attack.

On Thursday, a federal judge set a trial date in July 2016 for several civil cases filed by survivors of the theater shooting and relatives of those killed during it. The judge did so at the request of the victims’ attorneys, as well as lawyers for the theater’s owner, all of whom said they couldn’t prepare for trial in the civil cases until the criminal case against James Holmes finishes in state court. The civil cases had been scheduled for trial in federal court in August.

A separate group of cases filed against theater owner Cinemark in state court is set for trial in May 2016.

The lawsuits argue Cinemark should have done more to protect patrons at the Century Aurora 16, where Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 70 in an attack in July 2012. The long-awaited murder trial, for which Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, is set to start this month.

Until the conclusion of the criminal trial, a gag order on law enforcement authorities prevents lawyers in the civil cases from gathering needed evidence, the attorneys said Thursday.

“We essentially don’t have a single photograph, a single piece of evidence that we can show to a jury,” said attorney Christina Habas, who represents several theater victims.

U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson was skeptical, saying that the lawsuits turn on different questions than the criminal case.

“The issue is not what happened but whether the theater should have foreseen a mass shooting incident,” Jackson said.

But he agreed to postpone the trial.

Cinemark faces 20 lawsuits in federal court alleging it should have foreseen the potential for a mass shooting at the theater and provided better security.