Live Nation Settles Lawsuit Over Brain Injury at Luke Bryan Concert

Live Nation has settled a lawsuit brought by a concertgoer who claimed he suffered a traumatic brain injury during a fight at a Luke Bryan show, ending a case that had been headed for trial after a judge refused to dismiss the negligence claim.

Gary Stanhope sued Live Nation in 2024 over an incident at a July 2022 Bryan concert at Hartford's Xfinity Theatre, now known as the Meadows Music Theatre. Court records show the parties reached a settlement at a hearing last month and jointly asked the court Thursday to dismiss the case. The terms were not disclosed.

Stanhope alleged that he was attacked and knocked unconscious after approaching an altercation between a man and a woman near him in the crowd. His negligence claim focused in part on the security response, with an eyewitness testifying that no security personnel were present as the confrontation continued for several minutes.

The lawsuit accused Live Nation, which operated the venue, of failing to take reasonable security precautions. Stanhope challenged how personnel were deployed and how the confrontation was handled, while also pointing to testimony about other fights at the venue.

Live Nation disputed the negligence claim, citing the 116 security personnel and 16 uniformed Hartford police officers working the concert. The company also noted that its staffing met the National Fire Protection Association's 250-to-1 patron-to-crowd-manager standard and pointed to Stanhope's limited memory of the incident and evidence that his blood alcohol level was recorded at 0.187 later that evening.

The company separately argued that the unknown assailant's intentional criminal act broke the legal connection between any alleged security failures and Stanhope's injuries.

U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall rejected Live Nation's request for summary judgment in May, finding that witness testimony created a factual dispute over whether the company breached its duty to Stanhope through inadequate physical security precautions.

Hall also rejected the argument that the third party's criminal assault necessarily relieved Live Nation of potential liability. Given testimony about the crowd, the prolonged confrontation, and the security response, she found that a jury could conclude Stanhope's injury was foreseeable.

The ruling did not find Live Nation negligent. It left those disputed questions for a jury to decide and allowed the lawsuit to continue toward trial.

The settlement now ends the case before a jury can reach those issues. By agreeing to resolve the lawsuit, Live Nation did not receive a ruling on liability, and the undisclosed agreement does not establish that the company was negligent.

Luke Bryan was not named as a defendant and was not accused of wrongdoing in the lawsuit.