Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, and Live Nation named in lawsuit over Camden railing collapse

Fourteen fans and three workers who were injured when a railing collapsed at a Camden concert Aug. 5 are filing a lawsuit.

The 17 plaintiffs are suing concert promoter Live Nation as well as rappers Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa, who were performing at the BB&T Pavilion when the railing collapsed.“A concert promoter and entertainer have a responsibility to make sure that a concert they lure people to come to is safe,” said Robert Mongeluzzi, one of the attorneys representing the injured. “In this case, they didn’t do it.”Attorneys claim Live Nation failed to secure a railing that separated the lawn from a concrete walkway about 6 feet below where a second stage had been set up.When the rappers took the stage and the crowd rushed toward the railing, it collapsed, injuring at least 42 concert-goers.“You don’t need an engineer to look at the fact that they had an obviously inadequate railing directly on top of a 6-foot drop onto a concrete moat,” said Andrew Duffy, another of the plaintiffs’ attorneys. “The majority of the people fell head first.”But the lawsuit also blames the two rappers headlining the show for encouraging fans in the lawn seats to move toward the second stage, which was located in the concrete path between the lawn and the floor seats.”And in fact you heard Snoop Dogg say, ‘Everybody in the … grass, bring your ass down here,'” Mongeluzzi said.Attorneys say their clients suffered concussions, broken bones, torn ligaments and tendons, and emotional trauma.Since the collapse, Live Nation has set up a buffer between the railing and the lawn seats. The company also said in a statement at the time that it was working with authorities and structural engineers to determine the cause of the collapse.Neither Live Nation nor the rappers immediately responded to requests for comment.Attorneys have not said what damages they are seeking in the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in a Philadelphia court.

Philadelphia-based firm Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, P.C., which is representing 15 of the plaintiffs, has served as counsel in similar cases in the past, including a bleacher railing collapse at Veterans Stadium in 1998.

Wapner, Newman, Wigrizer, Brecher & Miller are representing the other two.