Tag: class action

The Electric Zoo 2023 Class Actions

Electric Zoo 2023 StampedeElectric Zoo is a large annual electronic dance music festival held on Randall’s Island in Manhattan. They are no stranger to legal issues, and in fact my firm had sued them in 2019 over allegations that their security was conducting strip searches on attendees. But, matters were made worse when notorious Brooklyn nuisance/nightclub owner Juergen Bildstein purchased the event last year. 

Known for constant overcrowding and general assholery at his Brooklyn Mirage venue — which has resulted in that venue being temporarily shut down by the New York State Liquor Authority, New York Fire Department, New York Police Department, NYC Department of Buildings, and NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (on separate occasions!) — Mr. Bildstein apparently took the same approach to organizing a festival.

The result was disaster: the first day of the three-day festival was cancelled entirely because they did not finish building their stages in time. The second day opened 2 hours late and some encountered lines to enter so lengthy that they never got in. And on the third day, NYPD noticed that they were approximately 7,000 people over their legal capacity mid-way through the day. Ticketed attendees who had not yet entered were denied access until they, predictably, rushed the gates, causing many injuries and a riot-like environment. Those who did manage to get in on either day were treated to unsanitary bathrooms, unfinished stages, and massive lines to leave. So far, Electric Zoo has issued no refunds.

My firm was one of four of which I’m aware that has filed class-action lawsuits against the festival and its organizers for fraud, breach of contract, and the like. Three of these firms, including my own, have joined forces and yesterday filed a consolidated complaint (that is, one complaint to cover all clients of all three firms). In total, we directly represent 16 plaintiffs and have asked the court to certify a class of all ticket holders. The fourth firm seeks to hold the festival liable for racketeering — a bold move and we wish them and their 3 additional plaintiffs well.

All four firms’ cases are being heard together as Brockmole v. EZ Festivals, Case No. 1:23-CV-8106 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The defendants will answer these complaints by next month and the court will set scheduling shortly thereafter.

Brockmole v. EZ Festivals – Consolidated Complaint (.pdf)

Brockmole v. EZ Festivals – Racketeering Complaint (.pdf)

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Class Action Lawsuit Against United Airlines for Flight 328 Disaster

I usually focus my blog (and my law practice) on civil rights issues, but sometimes big corporations can step on human rights just as well as the government. United Airlines is one of those companies, missing no opportunity over the past several years to demonstrate that it simply does not care about anything but profit. From beating up its passengers, to killing the family dog, to refusing to block middle seats throughout the pandemic — all while taking $15 billion in federal coronavirus aid (and demanding $15 billion more) — it almost seemed like every time something went wrong with domestic plane flights, you could count on United to be involved.

So two weeks ago, when a Boeing 777-200 flying from Denver to Honolulu lost chunks of its engine a few minutes after takeoff, treating the passengers to an uncontrolled engine fire and an emergency landing, it wasn’t particularly a surprise to hear that United was the carrier.

A passenger’s view from UA328 on February 20th, 2021.

The ATC recording from the cockpit demonstrates that the plane was piloted by two calm and collected crewmembers, who thankfully were able to land the plane without any serious physical injuries, but were unable to extinguish the fire in-air (despite cutting fuel) and left the 231 passengers on board in fear for their lives for a total of 18 minutes.

Airplane engines don’t simply explode mid-air unless something was done wrong. The NTSB has preliminarily opined that “metal fatigue” caused one of the fan blades to separate (taking a second blade with it) and flew off into the fuselage, possibly further damaging the controls that would have been able to put out the fire. But how would United know that the metal was fatigued? Perhaps because the plane is 25 years old (making it one of the oldest 777s in service in the world), because there are straight-forward tests available to check for metal fatigue (and, early reports show that was last done five years ago), but most importantly, because the plane in question — tail number N772UA — has a sister plane — N773UA — that lost a fan blade for this reason in 2018!

To add insult to injury, the passengers on UA328 were rebooked on a “new plane” to get to their destination, but you won’t need 3 guesses as to which plane United chose: none other than N773UA. You can’t make this up.

It is time United stop playing games with safety. I was retained by a passenger on UA328 and today I filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all passengers on the plane who were subject to the intense emotional distress that comes along with watching your airplane on fire for 18 minutes, wondering if you’re going to make it safely to the ground or end up in a fiery crash. No one should have to live through that as a result of an airline’s refusal to take proper care of its planes and its customers, and I look forward to forcing United to make it right as best is possible.

Case is Schnell v. United Airlines, No. 21-CV-683, in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

Schnell v. United Airlines – Class Action Complaint (.pdf)

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