Parent files lawsuit over 2015 EDC death
A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday accuses the organizers of the Electric Daisy Carnival of willful neglect for the health and safety of a California man who died at the Las Vegas festival in 2015.
Terry Tom filed the lawsuit against Insomniac Events and Live Nation, part owner of Insomniac Events, on behalf of his son, Nicholas, who died June 22, 2015, the final day of the three-day festival. He is seeking damages for wrongful death and negligence, among other claims, high enough to “to dissuade them from future reckless and illegal conduct,” court documents show.
Nicholas Tom, 24, collapsed at the festival about 1:30 a.m. He had taken the club drug Ecstasy and was having seizures and foaming at the mouth, according to court documents.
Lawsuit: Music drowned out calls for help
Other festivalgoers saw the medical assistant collapse and tried to call for help, but the music was too loud, the lawsuit said. Good Samaritans carried Tom, who was unconscious and still convulsing, for 30 minutes before finding one of the festival medical tents, which was empty, it said.
“Ground Control” members — volunteers who roam the grounds with water — arrived at the medical tent and told the group the festival’s medics had their hands full, the lawsuit alleges. One volunteer
EDC LAWSUIT
attempted to pour water down Tom’s throat, then left him on the ground in the medical tent for another 30 minutes in 110-degree temperatures before he died, according to court documents.
At least one person has died every year since 2006 at EDC or another Insomniac event, the lawsuit said. It argues that the festival organizers knew that attendees use illegal club drugs, including Ecstasy, and should have done more to prevent Tom’s death.italsostatedthattheside effects of the club drug MDMA, also known as Ecstasy and molly, include dehydration and a sharp increase in body temperature.
Based on the number of deaths connected to Insomniac’s events, the lawsuit argues organizers knew about the dangers. It claims the festival failed to provide enough medics and security for the 1,200acre event, which attracts more than 100,000 attendees each night.
Insomniac Events and Live Nation did not immediately respond to emails from the Las Vegas Review-journal seeking comment on the lawsuit.
Another death this year
At least eight deaths have been connected to the festival since it relocated to Las Vegas in 2011, including one that occurred this year.
Michael Morse, 34, died after the electronic music festival’s first show. He was pronounced dead at 7:41 a.m. Saturday at the event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His wife, Jennifer Marshall, said the coroner’s office told her he had a body temperature of 109 degrees at the time of his death.
This year the Electric Daisy Carnival had 1,090 medical emergency