:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/grupoclarin/W7QMYHNPTNFORE2M4KBFMLYLV4.jpg "9 of the 10 Astroworld concert wrongful death lawsuits have been settled")
HOUSTON (AP) — Nine of 10 wrongful death lawsuits filed after the deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld music festival have been resolved through settlements, including one scheduled to go to trial this week, an attorney said Wednesday. .
Jury selection was scheduled to begin Tuesday in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Madison Dubiski, 23, of Houston, who was one of 10 people crushed to death by the crowd during the concert. rapper Travis Scott on November 5, 2021.
However, Neal Manne, an attorney for Live Nation, the festival’s promoter and one of the defendants along with Scott, said at a court hearing Wednesday that only one of the wrongful death lawsuits was still pending, and that the other nine had been filed. been resolved through agreements, including the one presented by Dubiski’s family.
Noah Wexler, an attorney for Dubiski’s family, confirmed at the court hearing that his case “is fully resolved.”
The terms of the agreements are confidential and the attorneys declined to comment after the hearing because of a gag order imposed in the case.
The only wrongful death lawsuit still pending was filed by the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest person who died during the concert. Lawyers in the litigation will meet next week to discuss when a trial could be scheduled in the lawsuit filed by Blount’s family.
“The case is ready for trial,” Scott West, one of Blount’s family attorneys, said in court.
However, Manne said he and attorneys for the other defendants were not ready.
State District Judge Kristen Hawkins said she planned to discuss Blount’s case at next week’s hearing, along with possible lawsuits related to injury cases filed after the fatal concert.
Hawkins said that if Blount’s family’s lawsuit is not resolved through a settlement, he is inclined to schedule it in the next trial, rather than in an injury case.
More than 4,000 people filed hundreds of lawsuits after the concert. Manne said about 2,400 injury cases remain pending.