The complaint was filed to the Dallas County District CourtA stagehand helping prepare for a Weeknd concert has launched legal action over an alleged forklift injury, music website Pitchfork reports.
According to a complaint filed to Dallas County District Court, Steve Genovese was working for a Live Nation contractor to build the stage for the Weeknd’s AT&T Stadium concert in Arlington, Texas, when the accident happened on August 9, 2022.
“While marking the floor for the stage dimensions, (Genovese) was run over by a forklift which was being operated by another worker on site,” the document says. “As a result, (he) suffered severe, excruciatingly painful and permanently disabling injuries to his leg. The flesh and muscle were torn away from (his) leg and were detached from the bones.”
The complaint also names the concert promoter C3 Presents, David Weise and Associates and Cowboys Stadium, which operates the AT&T Stadium complex.
The Weeknd, born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, is a Canadian Grammy-award winning singer recently named the world's most popular artist by Guinness World Records. He is not a party to the case.
The complaint alleges five counts of civil liability including negligence, negligent hiring and gross negligence.
“Defendants had the knowledge, ability and duty to prevent the severe and life-altering injuries inflicted on (Genovese),” the complaint says.
Specifically, the complaint claims that Live Nation and its subcontractors “failed and refused to provide qualified forklift drivers and adequate staff as agreed in their respective contracts.”
The complaint alleges that the forklift driver was operating the forklift because Live Nation and the other defendants allowed work to commence without the necessary number of stagehands, staff, forklifts, forklift operators and EMS (emergency medical services) personnel being present.”
Due to the alleged lack of an ambulance or EMS, the complaint says, Genovese’s “medical care and transport to the hospital (were) significantly delayed, further exacerbating his severe and life-altering injuries.”
“(Genovese) spent more than a month in the hospital where he underwent numerous surgeries to save his leg, which is now horrifically and permanently disfigured and impaired.”