Attacked at a Concert

A young woman in a cowboy hat and white boots going through a door marked VIP under a concert stage - Ankin Law dramatization

Attacked at a
Concert

Injury Law Made Personal®

You paid for the VIP experience — the roped walkway under the stands, the door marked VIP, the promise that this part of the venue is kept for ticket holders. Behind every one of those doors is a decision about who checks wristbands and who watches the entrance. When somebody slips in behind you, Illinois asks the venue, the promoter and the security company a fair question: was this foreseeable, and was the security reasonable? Ankin Law has fought for injured Chicagoans for over 35 years.

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Why an Attack at a Concert Is Not Your Fault

Two young women in cowboy hats and white boots walking down a roped walkway under the stands beside a concert stage - Ankin Law dramatization

The Roped Walkway

Under the stands beside the stage, away from the crowd. The rope says this area is controlled. Somebody was supposed to stand at the start of it and check who comes through.

Two young women reaching a black door under a concert stage with the stage lights above - Ankin Law dramatization

The Door Marked VIP

Through the door is the part of the venue sold as safer and more exclusive. A door that is meant to be watched, with nobody watching it, is not an accident. It is a staffing decision.

A hand in a black knit glove grabbing the edge of a closing door - Ankin Law dramatization

A Hand on the Door

He catches the door before it can close and follows them in. Whether the entrance was staffed, whether wristbands were checked and whether anything like this had happened before is what decides whether this could have been prevented.

What Illinois Law Says About Security at a Concert

Reasonable care

A venue that sells you a ticket invites you in, and under the Premises Liability Act it owes you reasonable care. Illinois treats a business and its paying customers as a special relationship

Foreseeable

No venue is an insurer of your safety. What creates the duty is notice: earlier assaults at the venue or at similar shows, crowds it knew were coming, entrances it knew were left open

2 years

is the Illinois deadline for an injury lawsuit — shorter, with its own notice rules, if the lot belongs to a city or another public body, and longer only for a minor

Who Pays — and What You Can Recover

The Venue and the Promoter

The company that owns the grounds and the one that put on the show both decide how many guards are hired and where they stand. Their security plans, staffing schedules and incident reports are the first things Ankin Law asks for.

The Security Company

Event security is usually a contractor. Illinois holds it to the job it took on: if it agreed to staff the VIP entrance and check wristbands, it has to do that with reasonable care.

What You Can Recover

Medical and psychological treatment, lost earnings, and what an attack at a show you paid to see actually costs you — pain and suffering, disfigurement and loss of a normal life. Illinois reduces a recovery for your own share of fault, which is exactly why that share gets fought.

Why Ankin Law Is the Right Call After a Concert Attack

The Records Scatter After the Show

The stage comes down in days. Camera footage, wristband scans, radio logs and the security company’s orders are spread across several companies, and each one keeps them only so long.

Expect to Hear It Was Your Fault

You will be asked what you were wearing, whether you had been drinking, why you went backstage. You went where your ticket said you could go. Those questions are a strategy, not an investigation.

No Fee Unless You Win

You pay nothing to start and nothing unless Ankin Law recovers for you. The consultation is free and confidential, and there is no obligation to hire anyone. Howard Ankin has been doing this for over 40 years.

Get Your Free Case Review

Improper security at a concert or festival? If you were harmed because a venue or its security left an entrance unwatched, the records are already scattering. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation with no obligation.

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312.600.0000 Available 24/7

Ankin Law

Injury Law Made Personal®

312.600.0000

Chicago, Illinois • Available 24/7

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