A Texas judge has dismissed Drake from an impending civil lawsuit related to the deaths that occurred at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival two and a half years ago.
The judge overseeing the Astroworld trial has granted Drake’s request to be dropped as a defendant in response to a request from his legal representation. The decision was recently made by Harris County Judge Kristen Hawkins. Judge Hawkins also dropped Epic Records, Travis Scott’s record label, as a defendant in the upcoming trial in addition to several other companies that were named. Travis Scott, however, had his request to be dismissed denied and will remain a defendant along with his Cactus Jack Enterprises group, LeFlame Enterprises, Front Gate Ticketing Solutions, Apex Security Group, Apple Inc., Sascha Stone Guttfreund, Valle Services and Valle Security Texas who were involved in the planning of the festival.
Drake had requested to be dismissed on the basis that he was a guest of Scott. The Her Loss rapper was onstage with Scott at the festival, which took place at NRG Park in Scott’s hometown of Houston, Texas. Shortly afterward, the crowd surged crushing numerous individuals in an attempt to be closer to the stage. Ten people – including a 9-year-old child – lost their lives as a result, with many more claiming various injuries. The main lawsuit came about as a consolidation of multiple individual lawsuits that were filed after the incident.
The civil trial is expected to commence next month. There will be no criminal trial against Scott after a grand jury decided to “no bill” on all counts based on the evidence presented to them last summer. “While we are incredibly disappointed that Mr. Travis Scott will not be indicted on charges stemming from the senseless tragedies and chaos that occurred at Astroworld, we are undeterred and will continue fighting every day on behalf of the hundreds of injury victims – who simply intended to attend a concert for a night of fun – to ensure responsible parties are held accountable in the ongoing pursuit of justice,” said Kevin Haynes, a lawyer representing some of the victims at the time.