Court Defangs Action against Pitbull and Co-Defendants
June 7, 2018 |Rivkin Radler obtained summary judgment in an action commenced by plaintiff for personal injuries allegedly sustained at the Nokia Theater at a Pitbull concert.
During the concert, Pitbull suddenly stopped performing and sent two of his personal bodyguards into the audience to stop a fight allegedly occurring near the stage. As one of the personal bodyguards attempted to remove a patron involved in the altercation from the facility, the patron allegedly struggled, causing the bodyguard plaintiff to fall to the ground and be injured.
The plaintiff sued AEG, the operator of the facility; Strike Force, the company hired by AEG to provide security; and Pitbull, for sending his employee into the crowd. Pitbull – a/k/a Armando Perez and plaintiff’s employer – did not have workers’ compensation insurance.
The motion was granted for Pitbull on statute of limitations grounds. The action against Strike Force was denied on the grounds that Strike Force entirely displaced AEG’s duty to maintain the premises safely. The motion was granted as in the AEG action on the grounds that (1) Pitbull’s actions were unforeseeable, i.e. a sudden and spontaneous act for which AEG could not anticipate and (2) AEG was not made aware of any criminal activity at the theater, which would have put them on notice that this type of incident could occur there.
