Fishbone Ordered to Pay $1.37 Million in Stage Diving Incident
Stage diving is at least as old as Iggy and the Stooges and has ingrained itself as a common activity at certain types of gigs. But as cool as some may find it, there are also obvious dangers when one body is dropped on another.
Take the case of a Fishbone show at the World Live Cafe in Philadelphia on February 23, 2010. Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore did what he usually did: spontaneously launching himself into the audience from the stage. He’d done this countless times before.
This time, however, he had the misfortune of landing on 46 year-old Kimberly Myers. She ended up with a skull fracture.
Myers sued over a variety of things including medical expenses ($15,846) and some health problems that just won’t seem to go away. After much testimony, a judge ruled that Myers’ future medical expenses will run to $351,299–plus that she’s entitled to “noneconomic damages for future pain and suffering, embarrassment and humiliation, loss of the ability to enjoy the pleasures of life and disfigurement.” That was worth another $750,000.
Finally, the judge assessed punitive damages against Moore personally. Why? “Moore, who refused to answer questions at his deposition regarding his use of illicit drugs on the date of the incident in question, intentionally dove from an elevated stage despite knowing that stage diving in and of itself poses a serious risk of harm to audience members. Further, Moore exhibits little remorse or impetus to change his conduct.” Add on another $250,000.
The total bill: $1.37 million.
This will have a definite chill on the whole activity of stage diving. And because this sort of thing affects insurance coverage of bands and venues, rates are going to be affected. And you know where we might see that? Higher ticket prices.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
