Live Nation

Just days after the plaintiffs and defendants in the nearly 300 cases against the Astroworld Festival’s organizers agreed to consolidate those cases into one proceeding, another lawsuit was filed representing over 1,500 new plaintiffs, doubling the total to almost 2,800 people suing Live Nation and Travis Scott. Billboard reports that the massive group is represented by Brent Coon, a personal injury lawyer based in Beaumont, Texas. Coon’s press release announcing the suit read, “What happened at Astroworld was an unconscionable tragedy and it is important that justice is served for all those impacted,” but few details were revealed about the suit.

Meanwhile, Billboard also recently reported that with over 275 cases pending, the Astroworld organizers’ lawyers agreed with the plaintiffs’ representatives that all the cases would be consolidated under just one judge in order to simplify what is already a complex case. A filing read, “Transfer of all of these lawsuits to a single pretrial judge for consolidated and coordinated pretrial proceedings will eliminate duplicative discovery, conserve resources of the judiciary, avoid conflicting legal rulings and scheduling, and otherwise promote the just and efficient conduct of all actions.”

The new case will likely be folded into that same multi-district litigation. Meanwhile, Astroworld’s organizers have both secured their representation for the upcoming battle, with Live Nation tapping Susman Godfrey and Travis Scott securing Daniel Petrocelli, who previously defended Donald Trump against a fraud lawsuit over his real estate seminars.

The Houston Chronicle reports Live Nation and Travis Scott, under fire for the recent disaster at the Astroworld Festival last month, have made a prominent hire as they prepare to defend themselves from a deluge of cases from injured attendees and the families of the 10 people who died as a result of the crowd crush at Astroworld.

Scott has tapped global corporate law firm O’Melveny & Myers’ head of litigation Daniel Petrocelli, who is best known for representing Fred Goldman in the 1997 trial against OJ Simpson for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. OJ was found liable in that case, despite being previously acquitted for the murders in a criminal trial.

It was Petrocelli who reached out to the families of victims who died at the festival with the offer to cover funeral costs; however, half the families, including that of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, rejected the offer, writing in response, “[Scott] must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy. There may be, and I hope there is, redemption and growth for him on the other side of what this painful process will be – and perhaps one day, once time allows some healing for the victims and acceptance of responsibility by Mr. Scott and others, Treston and Mr. Scott might meet – as there is also healing in that.”

Meanwhile, Live Nation’s head defender will be the Susman Godfrey law firm, prompting the lawyer representing about 75 victims to say, “For Live Nation to hire the Susman firm shows that the company knows it is in deep trouble and is preparing for a bet-the-company litigation fight.”

According to the Chronicle, more than 120 lawsuits have been filed by about 600 plaintiffs seeking damages totaling over $3 billion. The cases may be consolidated in order to manage the caseload.

The latest reported Astroworld lawsuit comes from the family of a 14-year-old high school freshman who was killed at the festival along with nine others including a nine-year-old boy and a man who died trying to pull his fiancee out of the surging crowd. According to People, the family of John Hilgert seeks $1 million in damages while condemning the “gross negligence” of the festival’s organizers and promoters, including Live Nation and Scoremore.

“Defendants egregiously failed in their duty to protect the health, safety, and lives of those in attendance at the concert,” the lawsuit reads, “including but not limited to the failure to provide adequate security personnel to implement crowd control measures, proper barricades, and the failure to provide a sufficient amount of emergency medical support.”

A press release from Chris and Nichole Hilgert, the 14-year-old’s parents, asserts that the couple wants to reform concert presentation, with changes including assigned seating in general admission areas and increases in security and medical personnel on-site. “This pain should never be felt by anyone over a loved one attending a live concert,” Chris said in the statement. “Our sole aim in filing this lawsuit is to prevent this type of tragedy from ever happening again at a live concert. There is no excuse for the poor crowd design, event execution, and lack of response that was exercised at this festival that resulted in the tragic death of our son and nine others along with scores of other people that were innocently injured.”

Another new lawsuit against Travis Scott and Live Nation has emerged in the wake of the tragedy at this year’s Astroworld Festival, this one brought by the family of a man who allegedly died while trying to get his fiancee to safety during the sudden crowd surge during Travis’ closing set on the first night of the festival.

According to The Houston Chronicle, the parents of 27-year-old Mirza Danish Baig tapped Dallas-based law firm, Lyons & Simmons, to sue the festival’s organizers for upwards of $1 million, alleging that Baig was one of the eight people killed at the festival (10 have died in total after another pair of attendees succumbed to injuries sustained during the rush) as he tried to lead his fiance Olivia away from the crushing crowd. However, the two were separated, and he later died from injuries after being trampled by the crowd. Olivia and Baig’s brother Basil were also injured.

According to Simmons, “Each of the responsible parties pushed boundaries of common sense and turned their heads to the dangers, simply for profit. And when it was obvious they had lost complete control of the situation, instead of stopping the show, they made the decision to continue. That disregard resulted in one of the worst mass-casualty events at a concert in history. It’s a total disgrace.”

Scott has been named in over 20 lawsuits — a number that continues to grow — for his role in the crowd surge that caused dozens of people to be crushed, suffocated, or trampled. Ahead of the concert, Travis tweeted encouraging fans to “sneak in,” and previous to it, incidents in which attendees at his other concerts were injured were also attributed to his goading. While Travis has his share of supporters, including Chuck D, who wrote an open letter condemning Travis’ partners in the festival, Live Nation and ScoreMore, with lawsuits ranging all the way up to $750 million have ensured that Astroworld is becoming costlier by the day.

Travis Scott and Live Nation have been named as defendants in a slew of lawsuits stemming from the tragedy at Astroworld Festival this past weekend but the latest confirmed suit is among the most saddening. The family of Ezra Blount, a nine-year-old who was trampled during Scott’s headlining set on Friday night, filed a negligence lawsuit against the rapper and Live Nation, according to Rolling Stone.

Ezra was reportedly sitting on his father Treston’s shoulders when the crowd surged toward the stage, crushing Treston to the point he passed out and lost track of his son. The family located Ezra at a nearby hospital after the show listed as a John Doe. According to the suit filed by the family, “He is currently in an induced coma on life support and has severe liver, kidney, and brain damage. To his young, growing body, these injuries will have life-long effects, impairing his quality of life and ability to grow and thrive.” The lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages.

The lawsuit also cites a report that the concert continued long after city officials declared a “mass casualty event” at the concert, a number that was reported as being around 37 minutes. The Blount family’s lawsuit is just one of 20, with that number projected to continue rising as more victims come forward.