ABC News argued last year that the order "restricted the flow of accurate, newsworthy information not only about the Astroworld litigation but also about the Astroworld Festival"
Hannah Longoria attends a makeshift memorial on November 7, 2021 at the NRG Park grounds where eight people died in a crowd surge at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas. - Authorities in Texas opened a criminal investigation Saturday into a tragedy in which the crowd at a huge Travis Scott rap concert surged toward the stage in a crush that killed eight people and sent dozens to the hospital. Around 50,000 people were in the audience at Houston's NRG Park Friday night when the crowd started pushing toward the stage as Scott was performing, triggering chaotic scenes. THOMAS SHEA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A texas appellate court upheld a gag order Tuesday that has kept lawyers from speaking publicly about the ongoing civil proceedings connected to the Astroworld Festival crowd crush for over a year.
Judge Kirsten Hawkins, overseeing the Astroworld case, first signed the publicity order in February 2022 citing the high-profile nature of the case and arguing that it would assure an impartial judicial process. The order prohibits lawyers from speaking out on a wide range of topics pertaining to the case such as witnesses and their testimonies, physical evidence, or as broad as “any information that is substantially likely to materially prejudice the trial.”
The order significantly lowered press coverage on Astroworld, the event in which 10 people were killed and hundreds more injured in 2021, as many of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs have feared that giving any information publicly would violate the order’s provisions. ABC News appealed the order, stating to Texas’s first appeals court that it was a violation of “constitutional principles” and prevents the public from gaining information about what happened at the festival.
“The gag order has restricted the flow of accurate, newsworthy information not only about the Astroworld litigation but also about the Astroworld Festival,” lawyers for ABC News wrote in the appeal last July. “Since the court issued the Gag Order, individuals with even a remote connection to the Astroworld Festival have been silenced for fear of violating its broad and vague provisions.”
The appeals court panel made up of three judges didn’t agree, writing on Tuesday only that “we deny the petition.”
Thousands of plaintiffs are suing the festival’s promoters Live Nation and Scoremore, as well as Travis Scott, asking for billions of dollars in potential damages. The plaintiffs have cited several allegations like a lack of security and poor planning from festival organizers as major factors contributing to the crowd rush. The families of two of the concertgoers who died settled their lawsuits last year.
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