Lawsuit: Man Sues For Being Attacked with a Skateboard at Rockstar Mayhem Festival in 2015
Companies that plan on giving out promotional items at concerts, be forewarned: if some drunken idiot decides to use your tchotchke as a weapon against another concertgoer, you could be sued.
Anti-smoking non-profit The Truth — who were giving out free skate decks at the 2015 Rockstar Mayhem Festival — is now being sued by Joshua James Dugas, who claims he was smashed on the head from behind with one of the skateboards by an unidentified man while watching Hellyeah perform at the festival’s Atlanta stop on July 29, 2015. He’s also suing Live Nation — the concert’s promoter — and the city of Atlanta.
That’s what he gets for watching Hellyeah. Heyyyyooooo
Kidding aside, Dugas was taken to a hospital after the incident and still suffers from “continuing and permanent” injuries nearly two years later. The ordeal sounds like it was absolutely horrible, and Dugas can, and should, be reimbursed medical expenses, any lost wages he suffered if he was unable to work while recovering, etc. Promoters and venues carry insurance for exactly this type of thing, and I certainly hope Dugas is compensated.
But what I’m stuck on is this: I’m not sure what Dugas’s ultimate goal is with the lawsuit, which claims The Truth “were responsible for keeping [the skateboards] from harming concertgoers,” and that Live Nation and the city of Atlanta failed to provide adequate security. How exactly does Dugas believe such an attack could have been prevented, as the suit alleges it was the promoter’s responsibility to do? Should they have assigned a personal security guard to every recipient of a free skateboard? It’s unreasonable to think that random acts of violence such as this one can be completely stopped.
In other words: seeking monetary compensation is one thing, but alleging the The Truth, the venue or the city should’ve prevented the attack is another.
Perhaps the solution is that an item like a skateboard shouldn’t have been allowed to be given away. But again, presumably Live Nation was aware The Truth was giving them out. Where does the fault lie here? I supposed the court of law will determine that.
We’ll post an update on this case as soon as there is one.
The Rockstar Mayhem Tour, meanwhile, appears to be dead: after lackluster ticket sales in 2015 the festival didn’t return last summer, and there are no signs that it’s coming back any time soon.
