From Fun to Fiasco: Steps to Take After Concert, Parade, and Casino Accidents

Big events can lead to even bigger accidents. A fun night out with friends or family can quickly escalate to a trip in an ambulance.

From large concerts and clubs to casinos and even parades, when giant crowds gather, disaster can strike.

Venues, hosts, and management of these events owe a duty of care to their guests—that means they should have reasonably addressed any hazards and reduced known risks to ensure that everyone has fun safely.

Most venues mitigate safety risks by taking the proper precautions, having clear and visible exits, hiring well-trained security and staff, and other best practices. When they cut corners to save money or are simply negligent and careless, guests can get seriously injured—and the negligent, at-fault parties should take responsibility.

Common Causes of Accidents at Large Events

With thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of attendees, large gatherings present unique challenges for safety. Here are the most common causes of accidents:

Slip and Fall Incidents

• Uneven Surfaces: Poorly maintained venues or outdoor locations can have uneven surfaces, potholes, or loose cables that pose tripping hazards.
• Wet or Slippery Areas: Spills, rain, or inadequate cleaning practices can leave floors dangerously slick.
• Dim Lighting: Concerts and festivals often feature low lighting or strobe effects, making it difficult for attendees to see potential hazards.

Overcrowding and Stampedes

• Poor Crowd Control: Insufficient barriers or a lack of staff to manage crowd flow can result in dangerous overcrowding.
• Panic Situations: Emergencies like fire alarms or perceived threats can trigger stampedes, leading to injuries.
• Entry and Exit Bottlenecks: Limited entry points or poorly designed layouts can cause congestion and chaos.

Structural Failures

• Collapsing Stages or Equipment: Faulty construction or improper installation of stages, lighting rigs, or sound equipment can result in catastrophic accidents.
• Tent or Canopy Failures: At outdoor festivals, strong winds or improper anchoring can lead to tent collapses.

Falling Objects

• Equipment Malfunctions: Speakers, lights, or decorations falling from above can cause serious injuries.
• Thrown Objects: Items tossed by attendees or performers can unintentionally harm others.

Heat-Related Illnesses and Dehydration

• Lack of Water Stations: Especially at outdoor events, insufficient hydration options can lead to dehydration or heatstroke.
• Overexposure to Sun: Prolonged exposure without shade or sunscreen increases the risk of heat-related illnesses.

Alcohol-Related Incidents

• Overconsumption: Alcohol is a staple at many events, but overindulgence can lead to impaired judgment and risky behavior.
• Aggressive Behavior: Alcohol-fueled disputes can escalate into physical altercations, putting innocent bystanders at risk.

Inadequate Security Measures

• Assaults or Fights: Inadequate security staffing or improper handling of disputes can lead to injuries.
• Unscreened Items: Failure to properly screen attendees for prohibited items can result in dangerous situations.

Responsibilities of Event Organizers

Event organizers, venues, and even vendors have a legal obligation to ensure the safety of their attendees. This duty, known as premises liability, holds property owners and event hosts accountable for maintaining a reasonably safe environment. Here are some key responsibilities:

Thorough Planning and Risk Assessment

Organizers must identify potential hazards and take proactive measures to mitigate risks. This includes assessing the venue’s structural integrity, planning for crowd management, and preparing for emergencies.

Adequate Staffing and Training

Event staff, including security, medical personnel, and maintenance crews, should be adequately trained to handle large crowds and respond to emergencies efficiently.

Safety Inspections

Regular inspections of the venue, equipment, and facilities are critical to identify and address hazards before the event begins.

Emergency Preparedness

Organizers must have clear evacuation plans, accessible first aid stations, and communication systems in place to address emergencies promptly.

Providing Essential Amenities

Access to clean water, shaded areas, and proper restroom facilities is essential to prevent heat-related illnesses and other health issues.

What Should You Do If You’re Injured at a Big Event?

If you or someone you love is injured at a large gathering, seek immediate medical assistance, even if your injury seems minor. Some injuries do not show symptoms right away and can worsen with time if left untreated. Plus, prompt medical records can also serve as valuable evidence if you pursue legal action.

Take photos of the accident scene, including any hazards or contributing factors. Gather contact information from witnesses who can corroborate your account, and retain any event tickets or documentation that proves you were present.

Notify event staff or security personnel about the accident. Ensure they document your report and request a copy for your records.

If your injury resulted from negligence on the part of the event organizers, venue, or another party, your next step should be to contact Morgan & Morgan. Our legal experts can help you determine liability and pursue the compensation you deserve.

Who Is Liable for an Injury at a Concert?

People who attend concerts and get injured may have the legal right to file a lawsuit against the owner of the venue or a third party, depending on the specifics of the incident. 

The Venue

The concert venue may be liable, for instance, if a concert goer slips and falls in an area that should have been cleaned up or marked off. 

Third-Party Security Companies

In other cases, a third party might be liable. For example, a security company might be held responsible if it failed to break up a fight that led to injury. It’s important that you hire a personal injury attorney to get to the bottom of what happened and determine who was at fault.

Real Life Example

In 2021, thousands of people attended the Astroworld Festival, where Travis Scott performed with other artists in Houston. Many music lovers attended the event with the hopes of an entertaining experience, but on the contrary, attendees were forced to endure a nightmare, as a series of negligent mistakes led to countless injuries and eight fatalities caused by crowd surges. 

Once the headliner took the stage, the overwhelming force of the crowd pressed forward and caused people to trip, become trampled, and get pressed tightly against one another until breathing became difficult. According to reports, many concert attendees attempted to notify both the performer and event staff about the chaos occurring in the crowd. However, the concert continued on and those injured in the crowd were left to fend for themselves.

There was enough distress in the crowd for the organizers, performers, or venue to recognize their responsibility to stop the concert and address the immediate concerns of attendees. Their failure to do so isn’t just unethical, it’s illegal, and the victims of their negligence deserved justice and for those responsible to be held accountable.

This isn’t the first time crowd surges have caused widespread harm. Crowd surges occur when a mass of people suddenly push in one direction and put pressure on the front of the crowd. People who are caught in that pressure are packed tightly against one another, making movement and breathing virtually impossible. Many people believe that trampling is the main cause of harm in crowd surge situations, but it’s actually asphyxiation, as the lack of oxygen and the inability to breathe cause people to lose consciousness in the crowd.

Crowd surges can occur at any large-scale event where there are tight crowds. However, this situation was made worse by the inability of the venue and organizer staff to contain the chaotic crowd. The venue was sold out, and the influx of additional attendees who broke through barricades only heightened the risk of injury. The situation was a time bomb, and once it went off, the venue and everyone involved in hosting the event failed to stop the concert and mitigate the harm that was occurring in the crowd.

Who Is Liable for a Club Injury?

Every year, millions of people visit nightclubs all over the United States. It is common knowledge that the combination of alcohol and people can sometimes be dangerous, raising the need for lawsuits. Sometimes, certain injuries occur even in the absence of alcohol. 

When you visit a bar or club, the management owes you a duty of care unless you visit the premises illegally. Most people visit bars and nightclubs to catch up with their friends and simply have a good time. The last thing you expect when you visit such premises is to wake up in a hospital many hours later. But, sadly, these incidents happen all the time.

Management

Sometimes, these accidents occur due to the management's negligence. For example, you expect the bar management to keep their bathroom floors clean and safe at all times. So if you or your loved one slips and falls on a slippery floor at the bar or club, this could be a premises liability case.

An experienced slip and fall attorney can help evaluate your case and investigate the injuries and damages. The lawyer will then file a claim with the bar's insurer. 

It is also the management's responsibility to ensure that bar equipment functions properly. A good example is a broken bar stool. If you sat on such a stool and fell because it did not have the required support or was missing a leg, this could be a sign of negligence. 

Bouncers

Other potential at-fault parties for club injuries can include bouncers. Many people think bouncers must be aggressive when a customer conducts themselves in an unacceptable manner. However, most states do not allow bouncers to be aggressive with customers for any reason. Instead, calling the police is the best they can do in such a scenario.

Some bouncers, unfortunately, abuse their powers while on shift. There have been countless cases all over the United States of bouncers roughing up customers at nightclubs. Some of these incidents have led to serious injuries and tragic loss of lives. 

In 2021, a Louisville man died following an altercation with a bouncer at a nightclub. Another man died in hospital a week after being punched by a bouncer at a nightclub in Philadelphia. 

The primary role of a bouncer in a nightclub is to provide a sense of calm, reason, and direction. This is especially important in places where alcohol is involved. Because many people fail to make the right decisions when under the influence of alcohol, bouncers are required to be the voice of reason. So when a bouncer threatens you or assaults you, you may be able to sue them or their employer, in this case, the bar. 

The only time a bouncer might be able to touch a patron is:

• When doing so as self-defense
• When a patron commits a crime
• When a patron assaults another patron

Who Is Liable for a Casino Injury?

If you’ve ever been to a casino, you know that the atmosphere is frantic. Hundreds to thousands of visitors are packed inside a giant structure, playing games and spending money. It’s a raucous atmosphere where a thousand things are happening at once.

To make matters worse, alcohol flows like water at most casinos. Almost every casino serves alcohol, and some don’t charge for drinks. After all, a tipsy or drunk gambler is more likely to lose money than a stone-cold sober one. But an inebriated person is also more likely to get injured or injure someone else.

As a result of all this chaos, lots of types of injuries are common in a casino, including:

• Alcohol poisoning
• Food poisoning
• Assault (physical and sexual)
• Trip and fall accidents
• Spa accidents
• Swimming accidents (including drowning)
• Falls from heights
• Burns

Casinos may be held responsible for many of these injuries if they fail to properly protect their customers. A Morgan and Morgan attorney can help you determine whether your injury was the responsibility of the casino and whether you deserve money for that injury.

Just because a blackjack dealer didn’t hit you over the head with a pool cue or throw you down a flight of stairs doesn’t mean that the casino isn’t responsible for your injuries. It can even be responsible for your injuries if another third party harmed you.

Usually, when you make an injury claim against a casino, it is because you were directly harmed by something inside the building that is under the control of the casino. For example, if your meal was undercooked at a casino restaurant, you might suffer from food poisoning and seek compensation.

However, you can also receive compensation for injuries that are the fault of someone merely visiting the casino. For instance, suppose that a drunk gambler pushed you down a flight of stairs. The casino might be responsible if the staff realized that the individual was drunk and kept giving them alcohol anyway. That is negligent behavior that contributed to your injury.

Casino injury lawyers commonly see circumstances where negligent or reckless behavior by casino personnel indirectly leads to injuries, and they are skilled in representing such clients and getting them the settlements that they deserve.

Who Is Liable for a Parade Injury?

In most cases, the organizations that are responsible for hosting a parade will take the necessary precautions to mitigate the risk of injury, but this isn’t always true. Negligence, or the involvement of an unethical actor, can quickly turn a day of excitement into a nightmare.

Parade accidents in the past, such as the 2005 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade accident and the 2021 Waukesha Holiday Parade tragedy, could have been avoided if the proper precautions had been taken. 

Parades, much like other, highly crowded events, feature many people in one centralized location. Most people won’t think anything of standing shoulder to shoulder with hundreds or thousands of people, but if something were to occur, the situation could quickly get out of control. 

Equipment failures, violent individuals, and other risks are also prevalent at parades, making them especially dangerous to unsuspecting attendees. 

The liable parties may include the parade planners and management, third-party vendors, technicians managing equipment or floats, and others involved in the execution of a parade.

Who Is Liable for Alcohol-Related Injuries at Big Events, Bars, Casinos, or Clubs?

Accidents happen without warning. But in some cases, they occur due to negligence. Take a look at a nightclub as an example—if it has a solid history of fights, you expect the club to do something about it. Some of the steps such a nightclub could take to prevent fights and other similar incidents include:

• Hiring additional security
• Hiring off-duty police officers
• Securing certain objects and furniture that could be used as projectiles during a fight
• Not serving alcohol to patrons who are visibly intoxicated 
• Hiring patrol officers to patrol the club's premises

Since premises liability cases vary from one individual or club to another, there is no one-fits-all approach to providing safety. However, you expect that particular establishment to do whatever it takes to ensure their patrons are safe. 

If that does not happen, you may be able to file a claim if you or your loved one got injured at the club. 

Can I Hold a Bar Accountable for a Drunk Driver?

Determining liability is one of the most complex elements of an alcohol injury claim. While drunk drivers are often the most obviously guilty party in these cases, many victims wonder about bar liability for alcohol injuries. 

If the person who caused your accident was over-served at a bar or restaurant, you might want to seek compensation from the business. 

There are many ways that you might become injured as the result of a bar overserving its patrons. For example, a drunk driver might collide with your vehicle and cause you harm. Alternatively, you might experience a slip and fall accident due to being overserved. 

Statutes overseeing lawsuits related to alcohol injuries are known as “dram shop laws.” Every state in the nation has dram shop laws on the books. 

Dram shop cases are lawsuits where the defendant is a tavern, pub, bar, restaurant, or other business that serves alcoholic drinks. Dram shop lawsuits occur when an establishment’s customers become inebriated and cause an accident. 

If you are injured by a drunk motorist and can prove that they became inebriated at a particular bar, you may be able to hold that establishment liable. This is known as a “third party” dram shop claim. 

The likelihood of winning a third-party dram shop lawsuit will depend on the case's specific circumstances. Dram shop laws are determined at the state level.  

In some cases, proving bar liability for alcohol injuries can be achieved by showing the following: 

• The establishment served a patron without requesting identification
• The establishment served a patron who was already intoxicated
• The establishment served a patron after the bar was closed
• The establishment served a patron an excess of alcohol 

To better understand the dram shop laws in your state, reach out to a knowledgeable legal expert. Having a legal representative fight for you will give you the best chance of recovering the financial compensation you are rightfully owed. 

A Morgan & Morgan attorney can be key to helping determine bar liability for alcohol injuries. Our skilled legal professionals can review the facts of your case and help you recover the compensation you deserve.

Compensation for Event-Related Injuries

Victims of accidents at large events may be entitled to compensation for their damages.

Medical Expenses

Compensation often covers the cost of medical treatment related to the injury, including:

• Emergency room visits
• Hospital stays
• Surgeries
• Physical therapy
• Prescription medications
• Long-term care for severe injuries

Lost Wages

If the injury prevents you from working, you may be entitled to recover lost wages for the time you were unable to work. For more severe injuries resulting in long-term disability, compensation may also account for:

• Reduced earning capacity
• Loss of future income

Pain and Suffering

Victims can seek compensation for non-economic damages, such as:

• Physical pain caused by the injury
• Emotional trauma and distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life due to permanent injuries or disabilities

Property Damage

If personal belongings, such as clothing, smartphones, or other valuables, are damaged during the incident, you may be eligible for reimbursement.

Punitive Damages

In cases where the event organizer's negligence was egregious, courts may award punitive damages. These are intended to punish the responsible party and deter similar behavior in the future.

Morgan & Morgan Can Help

Even though it is important to work with an attorney if you or your loved one has been injured at an event or venue, the choice of attorney will influence your claim. Choosing the wrong attorney could jeopardize the entire case. 

At Morgan & Morgan, we have been fighting for injury victims all over the United States for over 35 years and have recovered over $20 billion in the process. 

Our injury law firm also consists of over 1,000 injury attorneys. We have the right team of attorneys to fight for you, whether it is a slip and fall case, parking lot accident, construction negligence, product liability, or anything in between. 

Hiring one of our lawyers is easy, and you can get started in minutes with a free case evaluation.