Travis Scott denies legal liability in Astroworld Festival tragedy, court documents show
By Rosa Flores, CNN
Travis Scott denies allegations, including negligence, in lawsuits filed against him for the Astroworld Festival tragedy, according to court documents filed by Scott’s attorneys and obtained by CNN.
More than 140 lawsuits have been filed in the tragedy that left 10 people dead, CNN previously reported. Most allege the defendants were negligent and stood to make huge sums of money from the concert.
A spokesperson for Travis Scott provided CNN with “answer” documents filed Monday on behalf of the star rapper and his record label, Cactus Jack Records, in response to allegations in six lawsuits. All six filings deny the allegations.
“Defendants generally deny the allegations set forth,” stated the court documents, which requested the claims be dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be brought to court again.
The family of Bharti Shahani, a 22-year-old university student who died at the festival, and representatives for Joseph Ferguson, who attended it, criticized the court filings.
“Travis Scott’s attempt to escape responsibility for creating a deadly situation from which his fans could not escape is shameful and, sadly, true to form,” said Houston attorney James Lassiter, who represents Shahani and several more festival attendees who suffered significant injuries.
“While he continues using social media to present a public image of someone who is grieved by the catastrophic loss of life that his actions caused, he is quietly paying celebrity lawyers to argue his victims deserve nothing more than symbolic help with funeral costs.”
Scott has said he would pay the funeral costs for those who died in a crowd crush during the concert.
Benny Agosto Jr., who represents Ferguson, said it would be “very premature at this stage” to file a dismissal. Agosto was one of multiple attorneys to file a motion with the Texas Supreme Court on Friday that would consolidate the lawsuits of the Astroworld Festival victims into one case.
In a statement issued in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Scott said he was “devastated” by what happened.
The Astroworld Festival turned deadly as concertgoers were crushed, trampled and struggled to breathe as the packed crowd surged toward an outdoor stage when Scott, a headliner, started performing on November 5.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Michelle Watson and Carma Hassan contributed to this alert.
