Music festival leads to drunk driving crash, wrongful death suit

In some ways the New England Country Musical Festival is like many others. There are young people attending, many of whom are underage drinkers. Tailgating is an exceedingly common activity although the venue staff may patrol the area to curb excessive or illegal consumption.

In one important way the New England Country Musical Festival is not like many others. The venue owners are the subject of a wrongful death lawsuit due to a fatal drunk driving accident. The lawsuit has reached the court four years after the deaths of two young girls and the serious personal injury of their friend.

The concert in 2008 took place on a spectacular day according to a photo of two of the girls. They are smiling broadly, but six hours later they would be dead. They were involved in a fatal car crash after leaving the venue.

The families of the two girls who died sued the Kraft Group for wrongful death due to negligence. The girl who survived the accident has sued for negligence and gross negligence. Underage and excessive drinking was a known problem in previous years according to the plaintiffs. The previous year the city had a hearing about the near riot conditions and demanded that something was done. Nothing was done according to the plaintiffs, and the fatal crash resulted.

The defense contends that the underage drinkers were trespassers who violated the law by bringing alcohol to the stadium parking lot. The attorney for Kraft contends that they had no tickets to the event and had no plans to purchase tickets for the event.

The defense has asked the judge to dismiss the case, although based on reliable sources, it appears that the case will proceed. No dollar amount was mentioned for the wrongful death lawsuit.

Source: WBUR, “Kraft Group Sued Over Fatal Crash,” David Boeri, Nov.21, 2012