What happens if your band plays a show, and someone in the audience gets hurt? In some instances, it could mean that the injured person decides to sue the band. There are some types of insurance that could help protect bands that gig. Unfortunately, I don’t think that most independent bands will be able to afford all the insurance polices that could help them.
A punk band named Pour Habit played a show in a bar in San Luis Obispo, California. It took place at a bar that was called Downtown Brewing Co. at the time. The bar has since changed its name to SLO Brew.
During the show, there was some crowd-surfing going on. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this term, crowd-surfing refers to when people in the audience hoist someone (usually one of the members of the band who is currently playing on stage), over their heads. The crowd then uses their hands to push that person along.
Sometimes, this is initiated when a band member leaps into the crowd from the stage. I’m not sure exactly what started the crowd-surfing at this particular gig. I don’t think crowd-surfing is all that unusual, in general. Personally, though, I’ve never seen it happen at Downtown Brew/ SLO Brew at any of the concerts that I’ve attended.
Allegedly, the vocalist for Pour Habit, Chuck Green, was the person who was crowd-surfing. It is also alleged that an eighteen year old who attended the show named Robert Freeborn was injured as a result of the crowd surfing. It has been said that Freeborn had his face pushed into a speaker monitor, and the result was that he now has permanent double vision.
Freeborn’s lawyer is suing the band, the band’s managers, the venue (SLO Pub LLC), and the landlord of the venue (WestPac Investments Inc.). The band’s side of the story has not yet been released. There are always two sides to every lawsuit.
There is something called “Public Liability Insurance”. It is not something that bands in the United States are required to get before they start playing gigs, (but some venues or events might require it). Basically, this insurance pays the cost of the medical treatment that is required by a person who got injured at a show. It can also cover the financial aspects of certain types of disability claims, and can cover settlement claims from lawsuits.
Typically, the venue will have purchased this type of liability insurance, just in case something happens that causes an injury like the one that allegedly occurred at the Pour Habit show. If the band is connected with a management company, then that company might have taken out some type of insurance to cover the financial loss that would happen if the band became unable to play the show.
Ultimately, it seems to me that independent bands could be held personally responsible for the injuries sustained by people who attend their shows. I don’t think that this is something that new bands think about when they are struggling to find paying gigs, and to put out their first album.
Image by Zack Gingg on Flickr