After Travis Scott finished settling lawsuits over the tragic 2021 Astroworld festival — which killed 10 people and injured hundreds more — with a total of over 300 plaintiffs earlier this week [via CTV News], the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino must be deposed in the ongoing litigation, Billboard reports.
The high court denied the entertainment giant's petition to stop seeking deposition last week, shutting down the corporation's arguments that victims were just looking to "harass Live Nation and to coerce settlements." Dated October 15, this ruling left in place a trial judge's decision made this summer, forcing Rapino to testify.
Arguing to block Rapino from being deposed, Live Nation's legal team argued that his only connection to Astroworld was as the company's top executive, writing, "Any knowledge he may possess was obtained from others who have knowledge superior to his own."
However, attorneys for the victims argued that the CEO actually played a more direct role in Astroworld's operations, citing an email he sent the night of the catastrophe instructing the festival director to wait on receiving more information about the death toll before moving to cancel the remainder of the event. "If [five] died we would cancel," Rapino wrote.
"Remarkably, Live Nation claims that Rapino was not the decision maker on whether to cancel the festival," the victims' representation argued. "This email proves otherwise, and plaintiffs want an opportunity to examine Rapino about it."
Court documents made public in March revealed that the Astroworld organizers had miscalculated a state fire code, contributing to overselling the event.
While numerous of the hundreds of lawsuits against the rapper, Live Nation and others have collectively sought billions of dollars and damages have been settled privately, some plaintiffs are still moving toward a jury trial. Scott was scheduled to face his first trial this spring for the wrongful death suit filed by the family of 23-year-old Madison Dubiski this spring, but came to a settlement with the Dubiskis — and the nine other parties seeking justice for the lives lost in the fatal crowd surge — that same week.
A bellwether trial consolidating a small group of lawsuits from a larger group of similar cases to be tried first had been scheduled to start this week, but has now been pushed to February in light of the new settlements.