HOUSTON – Hundreds of lawsuits are now combined into one massive case against Travis Scott and Live Nation in connection with the Astroworld Festival which turned deadly last year.
Billboard magazine reported the Texas Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Wednesday granted a motion from both victims and organizers to combine the litigation before a single judge for all pre-trial proceedings.
KPRC 2′s count of the lawsuits stood at more than 300 at the time the consolidation maneuver was approved on Wednesday. Billboard reported the lawsuits aim to represent nearly 2,800 alleged victims, which claim that Live Nation, Travis Scott and other organizers were legally negligent in how they planned and conducted the festival. Pages of attorneys are listed in the filing, from Tony Buzbee to William Adler, son of Jim “The Texas Hammer” Adler. The alleged victims are seeking billions of dollars in damages.
Billboard noted “such ‘multidistrict litigation’ is standard procedure in mass injury lawsuits, with the goal of avoiding the inefficiency of individually trying many cases that share key similarities. It will allow a single judge to coordinate the cases to streamline complex pre-trial procedures like discovery – the process of handing over evidence. It could also make it easier to negotiate a single settlement to resolve all of the cases. The move toward a single case was agreed upon by both sides. In requesting to go that route, attorneys for both sides wrote that ‘this type of litigation is exactly what the Texas MDL process is designed to address.’”
Scott, who has maintained a low profile since the deadly festival fallout, said in December that the lawsuits should be dismissed and issued a “general denial” of the allegations that he was responsible for the deaths and injuries.
Ten people died at the concert and 300 others were injured.
RELATED: