Apple, Travis Scott, others sued for $2B by attendees injured at Astroworld

AppleInsider

Apple, ticketing service Live Nation, and artist Travis Scott are being sued for $2 billion by hundreds of people injured in the deadly Astroworld concert earlier in November.

Credit: Astroworld

The complaint, filed Thursday in a Houston state court, amends an earlier lawsuit that was lodged after the Nov. 5 concert. The revised complaint brings the number of plaintiffs to 282, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Lawyer Thomas J. Henry is in discussions to add another 120 people to the case.

Plaintiffs in the case say they were injured when a crowd of 50,000 were "incited into a frenzy" at the concert, in which 10 people were killed and hundreds were injured. Scott has a history of encouraging fans to ignore safety measures at his concerts and has pleaded guilty twice before to public disorder charges related to concerts held in Chicago and Arkansas.

Henry believes Live Nation could have prevented the deaths and injuries at the Astroworld event had it taken appropriate precautions.

"The defendants stood to make an exorbitant amount of money off of this event, and they still chose to cut corners, cut costs, and put attendees at risk," Henry said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

Apple Music live-streamed the Astroworld concert, headlined by Travis Scott. Live Nation promoted the event. NRG Stadium, where it took place, and rapper Drake are also named in the lawsuit.

A separate lawsuit filed on Monday also targeted Apple and other involved in the Astroworld concert and sought damages of $750 million.

Read on AppleInsider

viclauyyc

Why sue Apple except for money grab?

Apple was streaming the concert online, the whole idea is so people don’t need to go to the concert. 

Why not sue the bus company because they give people ride to the concert. Or sue Coca-cola as they provide drink?

corp1

viclauyyc said:

Why sue Apple except for money grab?

Apple was streaming the concert online, the whole idea is so people don’t need to go to the concert. 

Why not sue the bus company because they give people ride to the concert. Or sue Coca-cola as they provide drink?

Part of it is certainly the "deep pockets" principle where plaintiffs will sue parties with the greatest ability to pay damages.

The tricky bit will be to show that Apple (along with the promoter, artist, venue, etc.) is liable, since Apple was streaming the event and could conceivably have paused it at any time for "technical difficulties."

One question they might ask is whether Apple acted negligently in continuing the stream (presumably for profit reasons) while ignoring the unfolding emergency, or whether Apple profited from streaming a video of people being injured, while doing nothing to help. Or whether Apple interfered with or blocked attempts to stop the event.

edited November 2021

12strangers

viclauyyc said:

Why sue Apple except for money grab?

Apple was streaming the concert online, the whole idea is so people don’t need to go to the concert. 

Why not sue the bus company because they give people ride to the concert. Or sue Coca-cola as they provide drink?

Whenever a person or persons file a civil complaint they must name every person and/or entity even remotely involved to avoid the appearance of preferential exclusion. 

waveparticle

They should sue the mob that injured them. 

9secondkox2

Apple had zero to do with the in-person logistics of this event. Zero. 

Including Apple puts the lawsuit in danger of being frivolous. 

kelemor

9secondkox2 said:

Apple had zero to do with the in-person logistics of this event. Zero. 

Including Apple puts the lawsuit in danger of being frivolous. 

Yes but since they were live streaming it they may have film/video that other people aren’t releasing so you include them so they prove they were or weren’t involved 

wonkothesane

Bizarre, how the individuals that crushed and stomped over the victims apparently are not on the liability radar. Ah, I see, more effort, less deep pockets… not worth the effort; and why share liability when there is the easy way.

Edit: fixed typo

edited November 2021

beats

Apple is being sued because in America people/companies who earn money don’t deserve it. I wish they would sue the idiots going crazy over celebrities who caused this sh**.

beats

waveparticle said:

They should sue the mob that injured them. 

wonkothesane said:

Bizarre, how the individuals that crushed and stop me PED over the victims apparently are not on the liability radar. Ah, I see, more effort, less deep pockets… not worth the effort; and why share liability when there is the easy way.

You guys beat me to it. First thing I thought. True that you can’t sue them for billions though.

randominternetperson

Beats said:

waveparticle said:

They should sue the mob that injured them. 

wonkothesane said:

Bizarre, how the individuals that crushed and stop me PED over the victims apparently are not on the liability radar. Ah, I see, more effort, less deep pockets… not worth the effort; and why share liability when there is the easy way.

You guys beat me to it. First thing I thought. True that you can’t sue them for billions though.

Come on. Pushing and shoving at the back turned into tight crowding in the middle of the pack and deadly compression at the front. No one individual in the crowd can be blamed for most of what happened. 99% of the people in the crowd were victims of recklessly bad planning and crowd control.

Apple will get off the hook pretty quickly, assuming they had no involvement in the in-person logistics. If, as we all assume, Apple just took care of the filming and streaming, they'll be fine.

waveparticle

randominternetperson said:

Beats said:

waveparticle said:

They should sue the mob that injured them. 

wonkothesane said:

Bizarre, how the individuals that crushed and stop me PED over the victims apparently are not on the liability radar. Ah, I see, more effort, less deep pockets… not worth the effort; and why share liability when there is the easy way.

You guys beat me to it. First thing I thought. True that you can’t sue them for billions though.

Come on. Pushing and shoving at the back turned into tight crowding in the middle of the pack and deadly compression at the front. No one individual in the crowd can be blamed for most of what happened. 99% of the people in the crowd were victims of recklessly bad planning and crowd control.

Apple will get off the hook pretty quickly, assuming they had no involvement in the in-person logistics. If, as we all assume, Apple just took care of the filming and streaming, they'll be fine.

I said in the other forum. The crowd control is the responsibility of Houston Fire Department and Police Department. The show organizers need to submit a plan and obtain a permit before the event. FD and PD head or the city should share the responsibility. If this happened in the blue state like California, the local government will be sued. 

corp1

wonkothesane said:

Bizarre, how the individuals that crushed and stomped over the victims apparently are not on the liability radar. Ah, I see, more effort, less deep pockets… not worth the effort; and why share liability when there is the easy way.

Edit: fixed typo

Imagine a crowd of people packed in tightly. Suddenly a couple of them stumble or briefly lean on or grab onto the people in front of them, causing a whole line of people to lean or fall forward, applying hundreds of pounds of force to those at the front who are pressed against a metal fence or barrier. Whose fault is it?

A likely answer could be: the event staff who designed the venue and let it become unsafely crowded.

edited November 2021