$100M Suit Filed Against Fyre Festival Organizers
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) – High-profile Los Angeles attorney Mark Geragos has filed a potential $100 million class-action lawsuit on behalf of an L.A. music fan against organizers of the Fyre Festival, a supposedly elite concert event in the Bahamas that fizzled in a wave of cancellations and alleged disorganization, according to court papers.
In the lawsuit filed Sunday in Los Angeles federal court, festival attendee Daniel Jung alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract on the part of Fyre organizers Ja Rule and the rapper's business partner, Billy McFarland.
Tickets to Fyre Fest cost between $1,000 and $125,000 for luxury group packages. It was to have run in two parts: April 28-30 and May 5-7, on the private Fyre Cay in the Grand Bahamas Exuma Island chain. Performers were to include Blink-182, Migos, Daniel Cowel, Major Lazer and Disclosure.
Geragos told CBS2 Monday night that since filing the lawsuit, more concert goers have come forward and they expect others to join in legal action against the concert promoters.
Vlogger Austin Mills, a Los Angeles native who attended the Fyre Festival and was flying back to Southern California from Miami Monday, told CBS 2 he was stranded for hours and did not sleep for days. He filmed the devastation after arriving in the Bahamas. He spoke to CBS2 via FaceTime from Miami Monday.
"As soon as we drove in, all the tents were a mess and not set up yet and immediately people were worried," Mills said.
Mills says it was a nightmare. There was no electricity. FEMA tents were set up and people were locked in their rooms for hours without food or water.
"Not being able to leave another country and get back into the United States was pretty scary," Mills said.
A representative for Fyre Festival didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. However, in a series of tweets on the festival's Twitter account, organizers apologized for an event that "fell dramatically short of even modest expectations," and said ticket-holders have been sent refund forms.
Attorneys for Jung -- who contends he spent $2,000 on tickets and air fare -- are seeking class-action status for the lawsuit on behalf of fans who flew to the remote venue last week.
The lawsuit alleges the organizers had told musicians and celebrities not to attend, but didn't warn fans to stay home.
According to the complaint, the event's "lack of adequate food, water, shelter and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees -- suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions -- that was closer to `The Hunger Games' or `Lord of the Flies' than Coachella."
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