An additional lawsuit was filed on September 22nd against Avant Gardner as a result of its 2023 Electric Zoo festival. The festival was plagued with a canceled first day, absurd long lines, and ended with event organizers denying entry to some 7,000 ticket holders after overselling tickets and reaching venue capacity. Avant Gardner purchased the Electric Zoo festival and their previous owners ‘Made Event’ for $15 million in July of 2022. This year was the companies first time organizing the event.

The new lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York on behalf of plaintiffs and “all ticket buyers and/or Festival attendees wronged by Defendants”, and seeks damages of “no less than $18,000,000”. In addition to accusing festival organizers of not hiring adequate and experienced event staff; plaintiffs also allege security was soliciting bribes from attendees in exchange for allowing them to get ahead of will-call and entry lines, and allowing entrance into VIP areas.

Plaintiffs outline the following allegations in the lawsuit:

• Negligence

• Gross Negligence

• Fraud

• Negligent Misrepresnetion

• Breach of Contract

• Breach of Imlpied Covenant of good Faith & Fair Dealing

• Unjust Enrichment

• Deceptive acts to conduct business

In addition, plaintiffs accuse the Electric Zoo festival of engaging in “deceptive, negligent and unfair conduct”, and call into question if festival organizers “concealed, suppressed and omitted material facts” that led to such an unsafe environment for attendees. This years festival is estimated to cost the company $25 million after factoring in cancelled artist fees and refunds, according to Billboard news.

There is still no public comment relating to refunds from the festival at this time. In fact, the company appears to have taken a bit of social media hiatus following public backlash, with their last post being from September 5th — more than a month ago.