Texas Court Upholds Astroworld Gag Order, Rejecting Fears of A ‘News Desert’
Written by djfrosty on June 7, 2023
You might not be seeing many headlines these days about the massive litigation underway in Houston over the deadly 2021 disaster at Travis Scott‘s Astroworld festival. That’s by design.
In a ruling Tuesday, an appeals court in Texas refused to lift a strict gag order that for more than a year has barred attorneys and others from discussing the sprawling litigation over the crowd crush at Astroworld, which left 10 dead and hundreds physically injured.
ABC News had challenged the “sweeping” restrictions, arguing they clearly violated the First Amendment’s protections on free speech and had created a “news desert,” in which almost no reliable information about an important case was being shared with the public.
But in its decision on Tuesday, a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals For The First District of Texas rejected those arguments. Ruling on a battle over judicial transparency, the appeals court did not issue any written explanation for why it had denied ABC’s challenge.
Starting hours after Nov. 5, 2021 incident, lawyers claiming to represent more than 4,900 victims eventually filed more than 400 lawsuits against Scott, Live Nation and other organizers. The cases, later consolidated into a single “multidistrict litigation,” accuse the Astroworld organizers of being legally negligent in how they planned and conducted the event, including not providing enough security and having insufficient emergency protocols in place. Combined, the victims are seeking billions in damages.
But for a case dealing with a mass-casualty event at a popular music festival with billions at stake, relatively little is known about the Astroworld litigation.
Shortly after Judge Kristen Brauchle Hawkins was appointed to oversee the cases, she issued a “publicity order” that largely prohibited attorneys from speaking about the case, citing concerns that “extensive media coverage” threatened to deprive the parties of their right to a fair trial by tainting the jury pool.
The Feb. 15 ruling was both specific and broad – banning attorneys from discussing a wide range of particular topics, including “the strength and weaknesses of any party” and “rulings of the court,“ but also imposing catch-all restrictions on “any other information” that would “prejudice the trial.”
In challenging that order to the appeals court, ABC News argued that it had deprived the public of information about important judicial proceedings over a newsworthy event. The network warned that attorneys were refusing to share even basic information about the case with journalists, out of “fear of violating its broad and vague provisions.”
“The Gag Order, coupled with the lack of transparency from local and state officials, has created a news desert where many questions raised in the days after the Astroworld Festival remain unanswered,” the company wrote. “By [lifting] the Gag Order, this court would provide those connected to both the Astroworld Festival and the litigation the ‘breathing space’ needed to freely share their experiences, the press the ability to hold them to account, and the public the valuable information they need to better understand the events of November 5, 2021.”
But on Tuesday, the appeals court rejected those arguments. In a one-paragraph decision, the panel recounted ABC News’ argument and said simply: “We deny the petition.”
ABC News can appeal the ruling to the Texas Supreme Court. An attorney for the company did not return a request for comment on Wednesday.