Live Nation settled a wrongful death lawsuit from 2020 which stemmed from an incident at a venue in Missouri.
According to the St. Louis Dispatch and the Associated Press, a 44-year-old man from Jefferson City, Jasen Smith, died on May 16, 2019 at a Dave Matthews Band concert. The publications reported that Smith was walking back to get a t-shirt after the show at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights when he was hit in the head with a rental chair. According to the suit, staff were allegedly throwing chairs into a walkway as a part of cleanup when Smith happened to walk by.
The force of the impact from the thrown chair caused Smith to fall backwards and strike his head on the concrete, resulting in a fatal brain injury, the suit said. After the incident, the suit claimed Live Nation employees assumed Smith was intoxicated and were slow to respond to urgent care.
Smith was loaded onto a golf cart, transported to an EMT office, and then loaded on an ambulance for medical treatment. After receiving medical care at a nearby hospital, Smith died due to his injuries, the suit said.
A motion for approval of the settlement was filed on Friday, October 13 by Charles Gentry, an attorney for Smith’s wife, Darcy.
“On behalf of herself and her family, after a hard fought lawsuit, Darcy welcomes the closing of this chapter so that true healing can begin,” Gentry told ABC 17 News.
