Two Class Actions Filed in the Wake of the Fyre Festival Disaster
The organizers of the now infamous Fyre Festival, which promised the luxury cultural event of the decade for the steep price of up to $100,000 each but instead turned into a disaster that closed on the first day, has attracted not one but two class action lawsuits.
The first class action is being filed in the Central District of California against concert organizers Ja Rule and Billy McFarland as well as FyreMedia. The suit alleges that lack of food, water, and adequate medical care placed the festival attendees in danger, stranding them on a remote Bahamian island. The suit also notes that participants were encouraged to upload money to digital wristbands, with the result that they had no cash for taxis and other services.
A second class action was filed in Los Angeles claiming that the organizers of the festivals committed fraud by conducting a social media campaign with celebrity “influencers” that claimed the experience would be luxurious, with yachts and supermodels partying on the beach. The reality of the festival, which by all accounts consisted of all the worst aspects of a state of nature, was different than advertised.
The plaintiffs in the two class actions are going to have to prove that the organizers of the Fyre Festival deliberately misled the attendees about the experience that was in store for them. The defendants will claim that they were naïve about the scope of the event they proposed to put on and were so overwhelmed that they had no control over the disaster that resulted.
The festival organizers, by the way, are attempting to squash criticism of the festival on social media, claiming that not only it false, but it has the likelihood of inciting “violence, rioting, or civil unrest.” Sending cease and desist orders against aggrieved festival goers has every potential of backfiring, though.
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