AEG Presents Productions LLC is asking to be dismissed as a defendant in a woman’s lawsuit alleging she was pushed “like a ragdoll” into bushes by a crowd of concertgoers while leaving a Rolling Stones concert at Sofi Stadium in 2021.
Plaintiff Diana Hayden is suing AEG along with StadCo LA, LLC and Live Nation Worldwide Inc. in Torrance Superior Court, alleging all three own and manage SoFi Stadium. Live Nation was dropped as a defendant in October.
In court papers filed Nov. 5 with Judge Douglas Stern, AEG attorneys say their client has no ownership interest in the Inglewood venue.
Instead, AEG promoted and produced the concert according to a license agreement with StadCo, which employed all the ushers and security guards, according to the company’s attorneys’ pleadings.
“No act or omission of AEG created the allegedly dangerous condition of which plaintiff has complained and AEG had no knowledge of any alleged dangerous condition on the premises,” the AEG attorneys further state.
A hearing on the AEG motion is scheduled for Feb. 11, 2025.
According to Hayden’s lawsuit, she and her daughter left the Oct. 17, 2021, concert early “with the hope of avoiding the rush of the crowd.”
While walking to her car, Hayden encountered a large group of fans who were being directed by the stadium staff through temporary guard rails that fell as people tried to get to their cars as fast as possible, the suit filed in July 2023 further states.
“This crowd of people slammed into plaintiff and caused her to be violently thrown like a ragdoll into adjacent bushes,” the suit states, while further alleging that she would not have been knocked down had the departing concertgoers been directed in a safer manner and had the guard rails been sturdier.
The suit also alleges there was insufficient security staff present.