Nine of 10 wrongful-death lawsuits filed after a deadly crowd surge at the Astroworld 2021 music festival have been settled, including one that was set to go to trial this week, a lawyer said Wednesday.
Jury selection was set to begin Tuesday in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of Madison Dubiski, a 23-year-old Houston resident who was one of 10 people killed in the Nov. 5, 2021, crowd crush at the concert. by rap superstar Travis Scott.
But Neal Manne, an attorney for Live Nation, the festival's promoter and one of those sued along with Scott, said during a hearing Wednesday that only one wrongful-death lawsuit remained pending and the other nine had been settled, including one filed by The Dubiski Family.
Terms of the settlements were confidential and attorneys declined to comment after the court hearing because of a gag order in the case.
The one wrongful death lawsuit that remains pending was filed by the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blued, the youngest person killed during the concert. Attorneys in the trial were scheduled to meet next week to discuss when the lawsuit filed by Blount's family might go to trial.
“This case is ready for trial,” Scott West, an attorney for Blount's family, told the court.
But Manne said he and lawyers for other defendants sued were not ready.
State District Judge Kristen Hawkins said she planned to discuss the Blount case at next week's hearing along with possible trials related to the injury cases filed after the deadly concert.
Hawkins said if the Blount family's lawsuit doesn't settle, she's inclined to schedule it as the next trial instead of a personal injury case.
More than 4,000 plaintiffs filed hundreds of lawsuits after the concert. Manne said about 2,400 personal injury cases remain pending.
The announcement that nearly all of the wrongful-death lawsuits have been settled follows the suspension of the trial in Dubiski's case last week. Apple Inc., which live-streamed Scott's concert and was one of more than 20 defendants sued by Dubiski's family, had appealed a court ruling that denied its request to be dismissed from the case. An appeals court granted Apple a stay of the case.
In the days after the trial, attorneys for Dubiski's family settled their lawsuit with all defendants in the case, including Apple, Scott and Live Nation, the world's largest live entertainment company.
At least four wrongful death lawsuits had previously been settled and announced in court records. But Wednesday was the first time lawyers in the trial reported that nine of the 10 wrongful-death lawsuits had been resolved.
Lawyers for Dubiski's family as well as lawyers representing the various other plaintiffs have argued in court filings that the deaths and hundreds of injuries at the concert were caused by negligent planning and a lack of concern for capacity and safety at the event.
Those killed, ranging in age from 9 to 27, died of compression suffocation, which one expert likened to a car crash.
Scott, Live Nation and the others sued have denied those allegations, saying safety was their number one concern. They said what happened could not have been foreseen.
After a police investigation, a grand jury last year declined to indict Scott, along with five others connected to the festival.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/legal/astroworld-wrongful-death-lawsuits-settled-1235677530/