A DeKalb County jury ruled that Sony Music Holdings should pay $160 million in damages for failing to protect concertgoers at a 2017 show featuring rapper Cousin Stizz.
On December 15th, Sony was ordered to pay a massive amount over a shooting in Underground Atlanta, resulting in two attendees’ deaths.
On that fateful night of November 12th, 2017, disaster struck as a gunman stormed into the concert venue and indiscriminately opened fire on the unsuspecting crowd.
Amidst the chaos and pandemonium, four innocent concertgoers were struck by bullets, two of whom, Giovan Diaz and Ewell Ynoa, tragically lost their lives to their fatal wounds.
As the main act prepared to take the stage, the venue was filled with screams and gunfire, leaving many to wonder if they would make it out alive.
For Diaz and Ynoa, their promising futures in the music industry were cut short instantly. The shooter, 25-year-old Jonathan Bautista, was later identified by police.
The verdict came after a trial that included two other consolidated cases also suing Sony on similar grounds.
The lawsuit, filed by the Beasley Allen Law Firm in June 2018, named Sony, its record label RCA Records, and concert venues Live Nation and Masquerade as defendants.
There were multiple deaths, and Gio and Wells suffered significantly before losing their fight for life, as eyewitnesses outlined. The trial was incredibly emotional because of what these families, and the world, lost. One of these men had been told he would be a father just a few hours before the shooting happened. Combine that with the fact the concert endangered everyone, and this Defendant refused to participate in the legal process, and you get the type of verdict we saw here,” Beasley Allen Atlanta lawyer Parker Miller explained.
The funds will be used to compensate the victims’ families. Sony has not yet commented on the verdict.