Attendees of Travis Scott‘s 2021 Astroworld Festival could be waiving their right to sue the organizers if they accept refunds.
West Coast Trial Lawyers president and co-founder Neama Rahmani explained to Insider that attendees who take ScoreMore’s offer of a refund can possibly sign the right away because they will get something of value in return. “Courts generally uphold those types of waivers,” Rahmani shared. “The classic case is arbitration agreements. Everyone kind of scrolls through. No one reads the fine print, and guess what, you’ve waived your right to a jury trial, waived your right to file a lawsuit, to demand arbitration.”
ScoreMore confirmed that they, along with Live Nation and Scott’s Astroworld team, will be offering full refunds to those who purchased tickets, but did not confirm whether the process will be automatic for all ticketholders or if they will need to request for the refunds themselves. Meanwhile, Live Nation’s ticket service waiver specifies that those who purchase tickets via its website “agree that any dispute or claim” will be settled by individual arbitration outside the court: “By agreeing to individual arbitration, you and we each waive any right to participate in a class-action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration.”
However, John Jay College of Criminal Justice adjunct assistant professor Dmitriy Shakhnevich suggests that ticketholders who agree to receive a refund will not waive their right to sue, stating, “If after an event that is traumatizing and that is difficult to overcome, you give somebody a refund for a ticket and sneak in some language in there, at the very least, that can be challenged in court in good faith.”
Both Rahmani and Shakhnevich do agree that the terms of use for Live Nation’s ticket provider can be “challenged in court,” with Rahmani sharing that attendees who accept the refund can argue that they were not aware that there was a chance of violence occurring at the festival. “The terms discuss Live Nation’s website, mobile app, tickets, COVID, etc., but not the potential for serious injury or death caused by the setup of the event, security or lack thereof, or artists encouraging violence,” Rahmani said.
As of writing, 110 lawsuits have been reportedly filed in regards to the tragedy, with some naming the likes of Live Nation, Scott, the organizers and others involved. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and lawyer Alex Hilliard recently revealed that they will file lawsuits on behalf of 200 attendees, while there are 90 more lawsuits currently in the works.
In case you missed it, Scott and his team shared a new statement directly addressing the families involved in the tragedy.
