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The long-awaited first civil trial in the Astroworld festival disaster has been delayed due to a last-minute appeal from Apple, which argues that free speech rights should shield it from liability for livestreaming the concert.
Trial in the case was set to begin next week, but a Thursday order from the 1st District Court of Appeals in Houston put the case on hold while justices consider the tech giant’s appeal.
A lawyer for the parents of festival victim Madison Dubiski, who have waited two-and-a-half years for their day in court, strenuously objected to the delay Thursday as “bad faith filing to try to derail this trial setting.”
In a brief order, Justice Sarah Beth Landau granted Apple more time to make its case before trial begins in Harris County Civil Court. She set a May 10 briefing deadline, potentially delaying trial until at least then.
Apple in focus
Apple played, at most, a bit part in planning Astroworld, but it has been named as one of many defendants in the case, along with headliner Travis Scott, promotion company Live Nation, venue operator ASM Global and numerous security companies.
Scott teamed up with Apple to livestream shortly before the concert to secure millions of dollars to help him pay for the distinctive, mountain-shaped stage. Their contract required him to finish the concert in order to get paid.
In the frantic build-out on the grounds of NRG Park before the concert began Nov. 5, 2021, the plaintiffs allege, the placement of Apple’s cameras took up space that otherwise would have been claimed by about 1,000 patrons at a dangerously overcrowded venue.
Apple disputes the idea that its cameras contributed to overcrowding, which caused the deaths of 10 festival-goers from compression asphyxia as audience members pressed toward the stage. The company also argues it cannot face liability in the case because it was operating as a news company on the night of the disaster.
Putting the company on trial, it argues, would create a “chilling effect” on free speech rights.
11th District Court Judge Kristen Brauchle Hawkins last month denied a motion from the company to have itself dismissed from the case, teeing up its move to the appeals court.
At a Thursday hearing that took place even as Apple was pursuing its appeal at the higher court, Hawkins asked why the tech company should be deemed a news-gathering agency with special protections from liability under state law.
“Choosing to broadcast an event is what makes an entity a member of the media,” Apple lawyer Kent Rutter said. “Even if they’re just broadcasting an event, that is surely enough.”
Even the placement of cameras was part of the “creative process” and should be protected from litigation, Rutter said.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys argued there are limits to the protections of the First Amendment and state law.
“If a CNN camera at a news conference fell on somebody, the First Amendment doesn’t say they get out of it,” lawyer Jason Itkin said. “The reality is, your honor, that the First Amendment, we say in our brief, does not give you a license to kill people.”
Itkin claimed that Apple knows its arguments are bogus.
“This court should not accept this bad faith – and I use that word carefully but intentionally – bad faith filing to try to derail this trial setting,” he said.
Ground rules
The appeals court order takes the question of whether to hold the trial next week out of Hawkins’ hands.
In recent weeks, she issued a series of critical rulings that will set the ground rules for the case, whenever it goes to trial.
She denied motions from Scott, his companies, Live Nation and various security companies to have themselves dismissed from the case.
On Thursday, she also rejected a bid from Scott to bar discussion at trial of the drawn-out process of stopping Scott’s performance on the night of the show, which the plaintiffs argue contributed to deaths or injuries.
Among other matters, the judge now is mulling over how much time to give each side and each party in a case expected to last weeks.
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