A new lawsuit against Travis Scott, Live Nation and others over the deadly Astroworld music festival is seeking $750 million on behalf of more than 125 more victims, bringing the total number of individuals who have filed suit to more than 400.
More than 170 cases have been filed over Astroworld, which left 10 dead and hundreds more injured after a crowd surge during Scott’s Nov. 5 concert. But that figure substantially undercounts the number of victims who have sued, since some cases represent dozens of individuals.
The new case, filed Tuesday by prominent local attorney Tony Buzbee, is one such case, naming more than 125 alleged victims as plaintiffs. They include the family of Axel Acosta, a 21-year-old who died after being crushed by the crowd.
“Axel died that night on the muddy ground at a concert he attended for fun,” Buzbee wrote in Tuesday’s petition. “Axel Acosta loved and adored Travis Scott and the other performers at Astroworld — the feeling was not mutual.”
Like previous cases, the lawsuit accuses Travis Scott, Live Nation and others involved in the festival of legal negligence, saying they failed to make “an even minimal effort” to keep concertgoers safe.
“The deaths and injuries that occurred were needless and senseless, and the suffering caused the families and all others involved will be endless,” Buzbee wrote in the lawsuit.
The huge damages request is not a good measure of what a court might eventually award. Plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit can seek any sum they see as appropriate, and the final total will be heavily disputed in court. But it is certainly an indicator of the magnitude of harm that attorneys believe Astroworld victims collectively suffered.
“The damages sought in this case attempts to fix, help, or make up for the harms and losses suffered by these plaintiffs — nothing more and nothing less,” Buzbee wrote. He added that such an award would “make an example of all involved” and “encourage those who engaged in such activity to do so with safety at the forefront, not just as an afterthought.”
Live Nation has not directly addressed the mounting lawsuits, saying it will “address all legal matters at the appropriate time.” Representatives for Travis Scott have not commented on the cases either, though the star has said he was unaware of the “severity” of the incident from his perspective on the stage.
Even with more than 400 victims now involved as plaintiffs, the sprawling litigation over Astroworld is just getting started.
Experts expect hundreds of total claims will ultimately be filed over the concert, which was attended by more than 50,000 people and reportedly saw more than 300 people treated for some level of injury. Litigation could last for years, and could plausibly result in a damages award or settlement of hundreds of millions of dollars.
In basic terms, the lawsuits accuse the organizers of legally negligent in how they planned and conducted the festival. The cases claim that Astroworld had a duty to keep fans safe and failed to live up to it — through failures of planning, failures to respond to warning signs earlier in the day, and a failure to shut down the concert after trouble started.
The cases primarily target Scott and Astroworld’s key promotors, Live Nation and ScoreMore. But they also name a slew of other defendants, including Apple Inc., which live-streamed the event; Drake, who appeared on stage with Scott; security contractor Contemporary Services Corp.; the municipal entity Harris County Sports & Convention Corp.; venue management company ASM Global; and more.
Buzbee is a well-known injury attorney in the Houston area. He previously represented victims of a 2005 explosion at a BP refinery owned by BP killed 15 people and injured 170, a disaster that ultimately resulted in a $2.1 billion settlement. Last week, Buzbee told Billboard that he sees Astroworld as the “same kind of case.”
