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

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.

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.

12 Comments

viclauyyc 10 Years · 847 comments

About 3 years ago

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 5 Years · 98 comments

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.

12Strangers 4 Years · 77 comments

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.