Two families of victims who died at the Astroworld festival last November have reportedly settled their lawsuits with Live Nation, Travis Scott, and other co-defendants. These mark the first settlements for the families of the ten victims who died during the deadly crowd surge on November 5th, 2021 at the Houston festival.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee on Thursday morning took to social media to announce he had reached a settlement on behalf of the family of Axel Acosta. The 21-year-old had traveled from Washington state to attend the festival where he died of “compression asphyxia” along with nine others, in addition to hundreds of others who were injured during Scott’s set.
“The Buzbee Law Firm announced today that the claims brought by the family of Axel Acosta against Travis Scott, Live Nation, Apple, and others involved in the Astroworld tragedy have settled,” Buzbee wrote on Instagram. “The terms are confidential. Victim Axel Acosta was a beloved son, brother, and student. He will be greatly missed. Axel Acosta didn’t have to die. We hope that this lawsuit and settlement will bring much-needed change in the way concerts are planned, permitted, organized, and executed, to make such events safer for all concerned.”
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Acosta’s family was the lead plaintiff in the $750 million lawsuit filed on behalf of 125 people who attended the festival. The original suit named Scott, Live Nation, Apple (who streamed the concert live), Drake (who performed onstage with Scott during the surge), Scott’s Cactus Jack Records, and a number of security firms contracted for the event.
The Houston Chronicle also reports, and Rolling Stone confirms, that the family of 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez has also settled its lawsuit. Details of that settlement are also confidential.
The other victims of the Astroworld tragedy are Mirza Baig, 27; Rodolfo Pena, 23; Madison Dubiski, 23; Bharti Shahani, 22; Franco Patino, 21; Jacob Jurinek, 20; John Hilgert, 14; and Ezra Blount, 9.
The suits brought forward by Acosta and Rodriguez’s families represent a fraction of the total damages sought by a number of high-profile cases. Back in May, attorneys in Harris County, TX filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of over 4,900 attendees who claim they were injured at Astroworld. In an effort to deal with the massive caseload caused by the tragic events, Eleventh District Court Judge Kristen Hawkins has combined 400 individual lawsuits into a single case. She also issued a gag order so the case can “be tried in the courtroom and not on social media or press releases to the media.”
Scott has since returned to performing, including a high-profile appearance at the Billboard Music Awards in May. He also detailed plans to invest millions of dollars in Project HEAL, a new multi-faceted initiative geared toward education, mental health, and event safety.