Pollstar: Mid-America Sound Corp. had argued that a voucher claim form the State Fair Commission signed months after the August 2011 collapse included an “indemnification” provision that released it from any claims arising from the use of its equipment. But the high court ruled Thursday that the invoice form’s language “did not clearly and unequivocally provide for retroactive application” of that provision for any claims arising from the deadly rigging collapse.
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It seems like just yesterday that this tragic event was all over the news and grabbing headlines around the country. Accidents do happen, but we do have to do our best to make sure the chances of one happening are very slim, in this case it was unforeseen weather forecasts and high winds that caused the problem. This is one of the major problems that come with in air rigging, engineers have worked for years to find a ways to bring this heavy equipment in the air. Sadly all this equipment really likes to say on the ground. In theatre we take many necessary precautions to make sure things like this don’t happen. Obviously when you bring the element of the outdoors into the equation things can get a lot more complicated. Suddenly the span the truss is rated for should be cut in half and I don’t think this was something that Mid-American sound took into account.
This tragedy strikes very close to home for me. A very good friend of mine, and his wife, were injured when the stage collapsed. Since then, I have been asking who, ultimately, is going to be found responsible for this? And, more importantly, how can this be fixed and remedied so it does not happen again? It has been my belief that the only ones who will benefit from this are the lawyers trying the case. Knowing my friend, he doesn’t care as much about collecting from any type of suit as preventing this from happening again. One of the things I often told one of my students is that if you point a finger and blame someone, there’s one pointing at you. I don’t think there is one entity to blame. Was it the manufacturer, the company and/or crew that installed it, those who were in charge of cancelling the show due to weather? Was it all? Was it none? I don’t know that I have an answer for any of this. I’m just glad that my friend and his wife are OK.
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