Nearly all of the lawsuits stemming from the tragedy at Astroworld naming rapper Travis Scott and promoter Live Nation were settled in court — except for one.
Earlier this month, Live Nation attorney Neal Manne explained during a hearing that nine of the 10 lawsuits against the entertainment giant and rapper were settled, including the suit filed by the family of 23-year-old Madison Dubiski of Houston, which was set to go to trial. Terms of the settlements were not disclosed due to a gag order.
However, one suit remains; the lawsuit filed by the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount — the youngest person killed at the festival — is set to go to trial in a civil court this September. The suit lists Scott, Live Nation, and other individuals connected to the event like the live streaming partner Apple as defendants. While lawyers for the family asked Judge Hawkins if the case could be held sooner, Hawkins reportedly determined that “various legal and logistical issues made it unlikely” it could move forward before September.
While Live Nation’s attorneys tried to ensure the company’s CEO Michael Rapino would not be questioned about his involvement in the festival — assuring he had “no unique knowledge” of the event — the Blount family attorney Scott West said he intends on deposing the live entertainment mogul ahead of the trial. The plaintiff’s attorneys argue that Rapino had a role in booking Scott’s festival, and even sent an email hours after the crowd crush, noting that “if 5 died we could cancel” the second day of the festival.
While the Blount family’s case was one of 10 suits revolving around the 10 deaths that occurred at the festival, there are still more to come. The first trial related to the injury cases stemming from the event, focusing on seven injury cases, were scheduled by Hawkins for October 15. Around 2,400 injury cases are still pending, while over 4,000 plaintiffs filed hundreds of lawsuits after the tragedy.
Earlier this year, news broke that organizers had doubts about the festival’s capacity before the event. According to new filings obtained by the Houston Landing, the event’s safety director Seyth Boardman told the festival’s operations director he was worried about cramming so many people in front of the main stage to see Scott perform, noting, “I feel like there is no way we are going to fit 50k in front of that stage.”
Reports also found serious issues with the site plan; an employee of the event production company BWG settled on a site plan that made room for 44,000 people in the general viewing area, plus 3,500 in a VIP area. However, if they had used the correct seven square feet per person standard, they would have known the site plan had capacity for 32,000 people in general admission and 2,500 people in a VIP pen, which marks a whopping 15,500 short of ticketed attendance.
One of the most staggering statements regarding the safety of the festival was made by a festival dispatcher in the command center just minutes before Scott took the stage.
“I would pull the plug but that’s just me,” the dispatcher wrote in a message that was just made public last year. “Someone’s going to end up dead.”