Falls Music and Arts Festival class action goes to trial

A class action involving up to nearly 80 concert goers injured in stampede at the Falls Music and Arts Festival will go to trial next month.

The multimillion-dollar class action involves festival attendees injured during a stampede at the Festival in 2016. The fanss were leaving Australian band the DMAs’ performance to see London Grammar on another stage when the overcrowded exit became congested, causing a panic which saw many people being injured and trampled on.

The stampede resulted in 19 revellers being hospitalised and 76 people needing first aid treatment.

The case will now go to trial in the Melbourne Supreme Court on 19th November after the parties failed to reach a court settlement in a second attempt last week.

Damages are likely to be in excess of $4 million, according to lawyers leading the case.

The Festival started in 1993, with a small one-day concert, held in Lorne named Rock Above The Falls. Its initial success saw it expand, becoming a multi-day music festival held annually across the country - in Lorne, Marion Bay, Yelgun and Fremantle - over the New Year’s Eve and January period.

The Festival has a strong focus on sustainability, winning multiple awards over the years including being named the winner of the Major Festival category of the Australian Event Awards in 2014.

Image: Still from amateur footage the crowd crush happened. Source:Supplied