Three months after a deadly crowd surge at Astroworld Festival 2021, nearly 400 lawsuits are moving forward into one exponential case. Although 10 victims were killed during the surge, hundreds more claimed they were injured. Last Wednesday, the Texas Judicial Panel On Multidistrict Litigation granted joint motion for victims and festival organizers to combine the lawsuits for pre-trial proceedings.
According to Billboard, at least 387 separate lawsuits will represent nearly 2,800 alleged victims. Plaintiffs are seeking billions in damages, claiming that Travis Scottincited negligence in the planning and conducting of Astroworld. With the combination of the mass injury lawsuits, it's possible that one judge will streamline the procedures into a negotiation of a single large settlement.
If the combined litigation is not agreed upon, individual cases may lead to "bellwether trials" to examine a larger case. Billboard says this could avoid "a wider loss in the overall litigation". While it's unknown who will precede over the case, both sides have asked for Judge Lauren Reeder.
While the Billboard shows official court documents, according to Complex, it was also surfaced that government involvement occurred after the festival. The congressional panel of The House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter to Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino to investigate the promoter's role in the crowd surge.
“Recent reports raise serious concerns about whether your company took adequate steps to ensure the safety of the 50,000 concertgoers who attended Astroworld Festival,” the committee’s letter said.
“Some attendees stated that the placement of barricades made it difficult to escape,” the letter continued. “Experts have stated that Astroworld Festival organizers failed to heed warning signs.”