A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Live Nation on behalf of Drakeo the Ruler‘s five-year-old son, following his father’s death in December.
Drakeo was fatally stabbed during an altercation backstage at the Once Upon A Time In LA festival, which took place at the Banc of California and Exposition Park on December 18. LA police have yet to announce any arrests related to the case, though the investigation is ongoing.
The late rapper’s mother Darrylene Corniel has already sued Live Nation, which organised Once Upon A Time In LA, over Drakeo’s death. The family are seeking $20million (£15million) in damages.
In response to that suit, Live Nation referred to an existing statement from the organisers of the festival which read: “Once Upon A Time In LA joins Drakeo’s family, friends, and fans in grieving his loss. The festival is continuing to support local authorities in their investigation as they pursue the facts.”
A separate wrongful death lawsuit has now been filed on behalf of Drakeo’s five-year-old son, Caiden Caldwell, by his mother Tianna Purtue.
In the suit, which was filed in LA yesterday (February 2), Live Nation is named as a defendant alongside co-promoters C3 Presents, Bobby Dee Presents and Jeff Shuman, while Los Angeles Football Club (the owners of the Banc of California Stadium) are also named.
It’s alleged in the suit that Live Nation and the other defendants “were completely knowledgeable of the potential dangers posed to both their guests and the performers they hired based on numerous past incidents of violence and death at their hip-hop events” (via Pitchfork). The suit also references the Astroworld tragedy in November.
It further claims that if the defendants “placed the safety and wellbeing of its guests and its invited artists ahead of profits, there would have been an adequate security plan and sufficient security guards and law enforcement presence to have prevented the unnecessary and untimely murder of Drakeo the Ruler at the hands of over 100 deadly gang members who inexplicably gained access to a restricted area of the venue engaging in an unrelenting and unprevented attack for over 10 minutes”.
The attack which resulted in Drakeo’s death “was the result of a complete and abject failure of all defendants to implement proper safety measures in order to ensure the safety and well being of the artists whom they invited and hired to their music festival,” the suit added.
It also lists a number of alleged reasons for why the defendants are negligent, including inadequate security backstage and in artist spaces, a lack of police presence, no backstage access list, no thorough searches of performers and their guests, a failure to keep out unauthorised individuals, and a failure to provide personal security to Drakeo.
Caldwell is seeking $25million (£18.5million) or more in non-economic damages for life without his father, $25million or more in economic damages for loss of earnings and financial support, $10million (£7.4million) or more for Drakeo’s suffering prior to his death, as well as additional damages and expenses, according to Pitchfork.
Live Nation declined to comment on the new lawsuit when approached by the New York Times, while the other defendants have yet to comment on the legal action.
Last month a video for Drakeo the Ruler’s ‘Ain’t That the Truth’ was released.
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