$150M Lawsuit Over Punch at Kid Rock Concert
The family of a man who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being punched in the head at a 2013 Kid Rock concert has filed a $150 million lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by 25-year-old Jason McNeil and his wife names concert promoter Live Nation, the security company responsible for crowd control at the concert, and the Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center near Buffalo, New York, as defendants in addition to the man who threw the punch, reports The Buffalo News.
What led to the man's debilitating brain injury and how might he and his family recover for his injuries?
Punch Result of Mistaken Identity
According to the lawsuit, Craig Lawson had already been ejected from the concert for being intoxicated and attacking someone else. He was able to re-enter the concert, where he apparently mistook McNeil for someone else, punching McNeil and knocking him unconscious, which caused him to hit his head hard on the ground.
McNeil's injuries from the punch and his fall have left him with a traumatic brain injury that prevents him from being able to work and makes it hard for him to walk or speak, McNeil's lawyer told The Buffalo News.
Lawson pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to one-year in jail. He was also ordered to pay more than $31,000 in restitution to McNeil and an additional $4,600 to a state victims services fund that assisted McNeil's family.
Potential Negligence Liability
In addition to Lawson's own potential liability for throwing the punch that injured McNeil, the other named defendants may be found liable for causing McNeil's injury by acting with negligence.
Negligence generally requires that a person or business breach a duty to act in a reasonable manner, causing the person to which that duty was owed to suffer injury. In this case, McNeil's lawsuit alleges that concert security was unreasonably lax in allowing Lawson to re-enter the concert after being ordered to leave, leading to McNeil's injuries.
Live Nation declined to comment on the lawsuit to The Buffalo News, but in a statement said that "Live Nation's security and medical personnel, as well as the Genesee County Sheriff's (Office), responded quickly and efficiently to the incident."
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