Attorneys for Are living Nation raised problems about an future documentary about previous year’s deadly Astroworld tragedy in a new filing previous 7 days.
According to a letter dated April 8 received by Rolling Stone, Reside Nation explained it was concerned that Concert Crush: The Travis Scott Competition Tragedy could “taint” the jury pool if launched in choose Texas theaters. The submitting also raised worries above the actuality that Riccardo Ramos, an lawyer for 20 victims in the circumstance, also served as co-producer on the film.
Concert Crush was directed by Charlie Minn, who’s described as a “victim-driven” documentary filmmaker on the new doc’s internet site (some of his previous get the job done features films on the Parkland university capturing and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting). The new doc characteristics interviews with many Astroworld survivors and witnesses, as effectively as other lawyers symbolizing victims. There are one-evening-only screenings scheduled in several Texas cities Wednesday, April 13, and April 20 a “wider” a person-week operate at theaters throughout the condition is scheduled to start out April 29.
In the letter regarding the movie, Are living Nation’s top rated lawyer, Neal Manne, mentioned, “The involvement of plaintiffs’ lawyers in the movie, and the publicity the filmmakers and producers are striving to generate for it, raise sizeable problems about attempts to taint the jury pool.”
Manne’s letter stopped brief of explicitly inquiring the decide to protect against the movie from getting revealed, with the attorney composing rather, “[W]e believe that it is crucial for the Court to be conscious of the Live performance Crush film and the involvement of some plaintiffs’ lawyers in its content, production, and promotion.”
When requested for remark, reps for Reside for Stay Country referred to the whole textual content of the letter, which is down below. Ramos did not quickly return Rolling Stone’s ask for for comment.
Manne’s letter did elicit one response, however it arrived from a diverse plaintiffs’ law firm, Robert C. Hillard, who pushed again on Manne’s worries whilst also noting that neither he nor any person else at his firm took element in the doc. Hillard’s letter characterized Manne’s submitting as possessing a “sky is falling” tone and highlighted “their just about giddy makes an attempt to use the future Live performance Crush film to asperse as quite a few of the Astroworld Litigation MDL plaintiffs’ bar as they can… (probably hoping to distract this courtroom from their very own clients’ criminally negligent conduct in the deaths and accidents of so numerous)…”
Hillard went on to argue that because there is nevertheless no business start out date for the Astroworld demo, it was unclear why the protection discovered it required to increase problems about the film’s release. Hillard also criticized the protection for “resorting to these types of a transparent ‘tattle-tale’ letter, rather than, as expected by the policies, the submitting of a movement, which would involve them to established out some type of requested relief.”
Dwell Country Letter
Dear Decide Hawkins:
We create to bring the Court’s attention to the future release of a film concerning the Astroworld live performance titled Concert Crush. The film has received current publicity in the Houston area.
The film’s internet site, www.concertcrush.com, signifies it was co-produced by attorney Ricardo Ramos, who represents plaintiffs in 20 scenarios pending in this MDL. The film consists of interviews with Ramos, two associates of the Plaintiffs’ Government Committee—Brent Coon and Tony Buzbee—and as numerous as eight Astroworld plaintiffs. See https://www.concertcrushfilm.com/crew.html (attached as Exhibit 1). Mr. Ramos not only co-manufactured the movie but seems in its trailer (obtainable on the film’s web site), offering his thoughts on the events and gatherings at difficulty in this litigation. In the course of the Court’s March 28, 2022 standing meeting, Mr. Coon prompt that other plaintiffs’ attorneys could be associated:
“We know that a documentary is really likely to be hitting the significant theaters almost certainly this summer time and we presented interviews to them very last yr and industry experts. I know numerous other companies have talked to them, I’m not certain Mr. Hilliard’s firm has, some of the corporations have interviewed with the creation company.”
The film is scheduled to be revealed in specific Texas theaters beginning on April 11, prior to a broader launch in Texas metropolitan areas later on this thirty day period. The involvement of plaintiffs’ legal professionals in the film, and the publicity the filmmakers and producers are hoping to deliver for it, 1 increase sizeable problems about endeavours to taint the jury pool.
Despite the fact that the get-togethers and Intervenor ABC News have agreed they will reward from added time to go over the pending motions about the Court’s February 15 Publicity Purchase prior to the Courtroom hears argument on them, we imagine it is critical for the Court to be conscious of the Concert Crush film and the involvement of some plaintiffs’ attorneys in its content, manufacturing, and promotion.
Sincerely,
Neal S. Manne and Kevin W. Yankowsky
This put up was current at 4:40 p.m. ET on 4/13/22 with the total textual content of the letter despatched by Dwell Nation’s legal professionals.