20 Year Old Man Files Lawsuit Against LiveNation and Others After Mayhem Festival Assault Results in $40,000 Medical Bill

A 20-year-old Alabama man is suing the city of Atlanta, LiveNation Entertainment and the Truth Initiative Foundation after being struck with a skateboard at the 2015 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival in Atlanta, Georgia.

According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Joshua James Dugas was watching the band HellYeah perform at the Lakewood Ampitheater as part of the festival on July 29, 2015 when someone ran up and hit him on the head with a skateboard. Dugas’ friends helped him to a festival medical tent after the incident, where he collapsed and was taken to an emergency room via ambulance.

Although his full injuries are not disclosed, Dugas did suffer a traumatic brain injury. According to the lawsuit filing, Dugas’ “continuing and permanent injuries” have caused him physical, emotional and economic injuries. His medical bills have amounted to more than $40,000, with more expected to come.

Dugas is represented by lawyers at the Dixon Davis law firm, who will be submitting a negligence suit against all three defendants. The anti-tobacco non-profit Truth, of the Truth Initiative Foundation, were giving away the skateboards that someone hit him with. According to the suit, since the skateboards could be used as weapons, Truth was responsible for keeping them from harming concertgoers. Atlanta and LiveNation are being sued on the grounds that they had “exclusive possession and control of the premises on which plaintiff Dugas was attacked,” and should have used more care when providing security. The suit also accuses both for failing to protect Dugas from “the unruly, dangerous crowd” at the festival.

Dugas is seeking all allowable damages from the suit. “Hopefully we can hold [the defendants] to the level of responsibility that the law requires,” Dugas’ attorney Rod Dixon told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

The 2015 Mayhem Festival that Dugas ended was the final year for the fest after only eight years of production. The end of the festival came after drama between co-founders John Reese and Kevin Lyman.