9 of 10 wrongful death suits over Astroworld crowd surge have been settled, lawyer says

By Juan Lozano, The Associated Press on May 8, 2024.

HOUSTON (AP) – Nine of the 10 wrongful death lawsuits filed after deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld festival have been settled, including one that was set to go to trial this week, an attorney said Wednesday.

Jury selection had been set to begin Tuesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed the family of Madison Dubiski, a 23-year-old Houston resident who was one of 10 people killed during the crowd crush at the Nov. 5, 2021, concert by rap superstar Travis Scott.

But Neal Manne, an attorney for Live Nation, the festival’s promoter and one of those being sued, said during a court hearing Wednesday that only one wrongful death lawsuit remained pending and the other nine have been settled, including the one filed by Dubiski’s 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 lawsuit that remains pending was filed by the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest person killed during the concert.Attorneys in the litigation were set to meet next week to discuss when the lawsuit filed by Blount’s family could be set for trial.

More than 4,000 plaintiffs filed hundreds of lawsuits after the concert. Dubiski’s case had been chosen by attorneys in the litigation to be the first to go to trial. More than 20 defendants, including Scott, Apple – which livestreamed Scott’s concert – and Live Nation had been set to go on trial Tuesday.

After a police investigation, a grand jury last year declined to indict Scott, along with five others connected to the festival.