Sony Music Holdings has been ordered to pay $160 million (£132.8 million) in damages after the deaths of two people at a Cousin Stiz concert in Atlanta.
The incident occurred in November 2017 at The Masquerade Venue after a man allegedly opened fire on the crowd, according to HotNewHipHop.
Jonathan Batista was later arrested and charged with two counts of murder after two people—Jovan Diaz and Ewell Inoa—died from injuries sustained that night.
After the hearing on December 15 of this year, the judge found Sony Music partially guilty of failing to protect concert-goers. The amount awarded also included two other combined lawsuits against Sony on similar grounds.
The lawsuit was filed by the law firm Beasley Allen in June 2018. Sony, RCA Records, Live Nation and Masquerade were named as defendants. In his statement, Beazley Allen explained how the verdict was delivered.
“Obviously, such cases do not happen often. It was a mass shooting at a crowded concert,” the company said. “There were several deaths, and Gio and Wells suffered a lot before they lost the fight for life, as eyewitnesses said. The trial was incredibly emotional because of what these families and the whole world have lost.”
Allen continued, “One of these men was told he was going to be a father just hours before the shooting happened. Add to this the fact that the concert put everyone at risk, and this defendant refused to participate in the trial, and you will receive the verdict that we have seen here.”
The funds will be used to pay compensation to the families of the victims. Sony has not yet commented on the verdict.
