Wednesday, February 22, 2012
National Skyline Sugarland's Lawyers: Stage Collapse Victims' Injuries 'Their Own Fault'
Posted by Adam Gold on Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 5:37 PM
"The single most important thing to Sugarland are their fans,” the band’s manager Gail Gellman tells the Associated Press.
But judging by the response of the band’s legal team to a civil suit filed on behalf of fans injured in last summer's Indiana State Fair tragedy — in which high winds toppled an inadequately rigged outdoor stage, killing seven and injuring dozens more — when it comes to attending their concerts, Sugarland’s policy is essentially Enter at your own risk.
That’s right, the heartfelt tribute concerts have ceased, and according to AP, the blame game of ascribing legal liability is in full-swing, with Sugarland’s lawyers saying that those harmed in the collapse — an “act of God” that occurred moments before the band was to hit the stage — “failed to exercise due care for their own safety,” and thus suffered injuries that “resulted from their own fault.”
The fuck?
Now I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my day, and I’ve picked up a tactic or two when exercising due care for my own safety — don’t crowd surf, don’t get caught in a mosh, don’t wear flip-flops, ever, don’t take too many drugs and stay hydrated if you do take too many drugs, etc. But never have I considered wearing a hard hat to protect myself from falling scaffolding and lighting trusses.
Understandably, the insensitive assertions of Sugarland’s attorneys have left blamed victims and their families — not to mention general fans and observers — outraged.
Seeking to distance the band from the blowback, Sugarland's management has gone into damage-control mode, releasing a statement. An excerpt:
Sadly when a tragedy occurs, people want to point fingers and try to sensationalize the disaster. … The single most important thing to Sugarland are their fans. Their support and love over the past nine years has been unmatched. For anyone to think otherwise is completely devastating to them.
But the band’s efforts to absolve themselves of blame might make it a little easy for people to think otherwise.
In protecting the interests of their clients, Sugarland’s lawyers argue that the pre-collapse conditions at the Indianapolis State Fair presented an “open and obvious danger” to concert attendees. But, as AP reports, testimony documented in a lawsuit against the company that erected the stage suggests that the band itself fell short in heeding warnings of hazardous weather conditions, saying that they allegedly bucked suggestions to delay the start of the ill-fated Indianapolis concert, as to not disrupt both its travel schedule and singer Jennifer Nettles’ vocal warm-up regimen.
Regardless, the bands’ lawyers cite an Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation in claiming that liability lies on the shoulders of the Indiana State Fair, Mid-America Sound Corp. — the company that owned the stage — and the stagehands union, not Sugarland.
The state of Indiana has already paid out the $5 million to victims and their families — the maximum amount allowed under state law. And since that is a mere drop in the bucket in covering the widespread, longterm medical expenses of many of the collapse’s victims, the ostensibly deep-pocket band is inevitably under legal scrutiny.
Comments (5)
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THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even a hard hat wouldn't have spared my family member from ten broken bones and burns so severe that her tissue and fat was exposed. Maybe if we put a hard hat on my 10 year old niece she wouldn't have had her skull crushed. Hindsight, right?
So did the 30 page answer from Sugarland's attorney mention anything about the 8:45 announcement that the band was about to take the stage? Perhaps Sugarland's position would be different if they had been on stage when it fell? As I help two family members recover, with the #2 and #6 highest medical bills out of 56 injuries, I can't help but wonder...when the band fleed the scene that night as selfless citizens rushed to rescue my loved ones, did they literally pass the ambulances on the way out?
The Sugarland love-fest is over. Their music nauseates me. And to Ms. Gellman - No one is sensationalizing this tragedy. To suggest that anyone is doing so simply minimizes the life-changing injuries sustained by the survivors and the loss of 7 precious lives.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!!!!!!
I've seen this video dozens of times and it's still frightening as hell to watch that thing come down.
The only thing the crowd was guilty of was wanting to see a favorite band--a band that five minutes earlier, had repeatedly announced would embark the stage soon. If the conditions were clearly so dangerous, why not tell the crowd to seek shelter immediately and cancel the show? The cowardice astounds me.
I was playing a Sugarland CD in my car when i was struck by an on-coming semi. I am also filing suit.
Maybe sarcasm isnt the best tone in this situation, but I see no fault from the band here. They were paid performers, on tour, following a schedule. Even if they wouldn't delay the show for whatever reasons, they had no knowledge that the stage would collapse. They aren't fortune tellers.... or even meteorologists. The fault falls on the fair first off, for letting attendees be put in harm's way. Secondly, the staging company should have immediately canceled the gig when the weather became too violent for their gear to stay in place. Those are no brainers. Why blame the people that were paid to show up and perform? They aren't responsible for the production of the show. Their lawyers are just covering their asses... as most lawyers do, all the time. Hate to say it, but when you ignore warning signs to leave and notice a huge storm rolling in behind the tons of steel truss and speakers suspended above your head, common sense says to get the fuck out of there.
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