Multiple Lawsuits Filed Against SXSW

South By Southwest is supposed to be a time to let loose and enjoy music, films, and the interactive conferences that are held, but this year’s festivities took a turn for the worse when a drunk idiot tried to evade police at a D.U.I. checkpoint which resulted in him killing several people and injuring dozens more.

Now, almost a year after the horrific incident took place, seven lawsuit have been filed again SXSW by the families of those killed in the fatal crash that took place in the early hours of March 13, 2014 on Red River, according to the Associated Press.

The wrongful death lawsuit have been filed in both federal and Texas state court.

But, the festival and their private companies, SXSW Holdings INC. and SXSW LLC aren’t the only ones being named in the suits, the traffic consulting firm, Traffic Design Consultants, LLC and the person who headed the project, Patrick Lowe, have also been named.

One of the suits claims that the tragedy was “foreseeable and predictable” and that all those involved, especially the festival, ignored safety regulations and industry standards by not using “rigid barriers.”

“A festival organizer or traffic design consultant of ordinary intelligence would have anticipated danger” cites one of the lawsuits.

They also claim that the festival and everyone involved should have anticipated that something would happen due to all the excessive alcohol consumption that was going on. The suit even cited that Austin is the “number one for alcohol consumption in Texas.”

But, it sill does not end there. The lawsuit also says that the festival’s Right-Of-Way permit puts them in “legal possession of the street where the crash occurred.”

“The only way to force a private company like South by Southwest to take action in the future is to hold them accountable for their failures in the past,” states Scott Hendler, the attorney for one of the families.

“Otherwise, there’s no incentive for them to do anything different.”

Lizzy Plug, the wife of one of the first victim’s identified as Steven Craenmehr mirrored her attorney’s sentiment.

“South by Southwest is accountable for this tragedy, in my thoughts.”

In the response to the lawsuit SXSW have released the following statement:

“What happened on Red River was a terrible tragedy, caused by Rashad Owen’s utter disregard of human life. Our hearts continue to ache for those injured and the families of those who lost their lives. We look forward to his prosecution for his awful crimes.”

In September, a report sanctioned by SXSW done by the city of Austin revealed that crowd management issues including traffic congestion attributed to the crash.

The report also revealed that the city might also have some blame because of the overcrowding of venues and the high consumption of alcohol compromised the

Due to the report, the festival has already planned to minimize the amount of unofficial event surrounding them including the FADER Fort and the Hype Hotel. As of now, SXSW is asking for the city to limit the amount of permits distributed for events that require temporary permits.

As for the man behind all of this tragedy, Rashad Owens, he is currently in jail on capital murder charges. He is also being sued by the families.

Jury Rules in Apple’s Favor in Antitrust Lawsuit

A couple of weeks ago, Apple was taken to court in a class-action lawsuit which accused the company of purposely erasing music from customers’ iTunes which were not purchased directly from iTunes, but from other digital music sites.

On Tuesday, a jury sided with Apple on the case.

The eight-person jury came to a unanimous decision following just three-hour of deliberation. It should be pointed out that the short deliberation was a kick in the head for the plaintiffs who were building up the lawsuit and trying to take it to trail for nearly 10 years.

The jury determined that Apple did in fact use the iTunes software updates, the ones that supposedly erased the music, to deliver improvements for older iPods. The iPods that were reportedly affected by this were those purchased between September 2006 and March 2009.

Throughout the trial, lawyers for the company discovered that two of the plaintiffs initially named in the suit did not buy iPods in the relevant time period.

“There’s not one piece of evidence of a single individual who lost a single song, not even a complaint about it. This is all made up at this point,” said William Isaacson, Apple’s lead lawyer about the case.

“We created iPod and iTunes to give our customers the world’s best way to listen to music,” an Apple spokesperson said after the verdict was reached.

“Every time we’ve updated those products over the years – we’ve done it to make the user experience better. ”

As the trail made headlines at the beginning of the month, it was reported that if Apple lost, they would be out $350 million in damages which could have reached up to $1 billion under the antitrust laws.

To read the full report about the case, head on over to the New York Times.

Apple in Hot Water Over Deleting Rivals Music from iPods

We all know that people’s outlook on Apple can easily range from not wanting anything to do with them to waiting hours in line in the cold to pay hundreds of dollars for their gizmo of the moment.

But, it sounds like Apple had been doing something behind the backs of their customers that they will not be very appreciate of, now that their secret has been discovered.

During a court hearing in Oakland, Calif. it was revealed that the mega-corporation had been knowingly deleting songs from users’ iPods that had been downloaded from competing music services between 2007 and 2009.

According to attorney Patrick Coughlin, when a user tried to sync songs which had been downloaded from another service to their iPods, iTunes would receive an error message. The message would tell the user they needed to restore the factory setting and once that had been completed, the music from the rival services would be deleted.

“You guys decided to give them the worst possible experience and blow up [a user’s library]” Coughlin told Apple security director, Augustin Farruguia.

Farruguia responded by saying: “Apples contends the moves were legitimate security measures.” He also claimed that hacker with names like “DVD Jon” and “Requiem” made Apple “very paranoid” about protecting iTunes.

When asked why they did not tell users about this, Farruguia responded by saying “We don’t need to give users too much information” and that information would “confuse users.”

At present time, the class-action lawsuit is seeking $350 million in damages, claiming Apple abused their power to enforce their monopoly status in the digital music world.

If Apple ends up being found guilty of the claims, the damages could triple what is currently being sought at the moment, meaning this could easily cost them $1 billion under the antitrust laws.

New Report from Steve Klein Trial Might Reveal Ages of Female in Videos

New Found Glory might be in the middle of having a resurrection with their new album coming out next month and headlining this year’s Glamour Kills tour, but the resurrection might also have something to do with getting away from anything associated with former guitarist, Steve Klein.

The ex-band member was arraigned in San Luis Obispo, CA five counts of lewd acts on a child, one count of contact with intent to commit a sex offense, and possession of child pornography back in December, but did not make headlines until March of this year.

In April, his ex-wife, Amanda testified that she had discovered “at least 100 videos” of two-way chats between Klein and unidentified females who “appeared to be underaged.” She also admitted to the court she had discovered the drives while looking for evidence to support her suspicions that Klein was having an affair a few days after filing for divorce.

Earlier this week,Klein was back in court and the San Luis Obispo Tribute have posted a new report from the courtroom which might include the age of the females that were in the videos.

Read an excerpt of the report:

“On Thursday, Deputy District Attorney Julie Antos played five videos in the courtroom for Superior Court Judge John Trice, Klein and his attorney Ilan Funke-Bilu that allegedly showed audio-less, screen-captured video of Klein carrying on sexually explicit activity with girls on the stranger-based chat website Omegle.

The videos supposedly showed Klein masturbating and encouraging the females to remove clothes and touch themselves. The videos were not shown to the rest of the courtroom because of the estimated ages of the females.

Dr. Nisha Abdul Cader, a pediatrician with San Luis Obispo County and the prosecution’s expert witness on sexual maturity, said she estimated their ages between 9 and 16 years old based on their physical development.

On Monday, Funke-Bilu cross-examined Scott Sarmento, a computer forensic technician with the Sheriff’s Office who retrieved the videos from the hard drive for investigators.

The attorney asked Sarmento whether it was technically possible the videos could have been altered. “Anything’s possible — but it’s highly unlikely,” Sarmento said.”

Klein is due back in court on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

Beastie Boys Win Lawsuit Against Monster Energy Drink

The Beastie Boys have come out winning in the lawsuit that they filed against Monster Energy Drink. The lawsuit stems from a copyright infringement and false endorsement claim against the widely popular energy drink company for using one of their songs without a license in an online video.

The jury has awarded the group $1.7 million in damages, though they had originally asked for $2.5 million. While they came out as winners, Monster Energy Drink argue that they should owe the group no more than $125,000 for the case.

The Beastie Boy’s lawyer, Kevin Puvalowski said in his closing statement that the beverage company hoped to benefit from “how cool” his clients were without their permission. “They didn’t care if their employees were stealing from the Beastie Boys,” he said.

Reid Kahn, Monster’s lawyer, did though, acknowledge that the company has infringed on the group’s copyrights, but said that it was because an employee thought the company had the permission to use the music.

The video at the center of the lawsuit is one that centers around an annual snowboarding competition the company organizes and sponsors in Canada called “Ruckus in the Rockies.”

The video featured clips from the competition and an after party attended by DJs including Z-Trip who remixed Beastie Boys songs including “Sabotage” and “Make some Noise” which appeared in the video. It then concluded with a sentence saying “RIP MCA,” in honor of late Beastie member, Adam Yauch who sadly passed away after his battle with cancer, a day before the competition took place.

Once the damaged were award, Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) stated, “We’re happy. We just want to thank the jury.” At the time, an attorney for Monster had said that they will appeal the verdict.

Former As I Lay Dying Frontman Sentence

After the circus that has become Tim Lambesis’ trial for hiring a hit man to kill his wife, the former frontman was finally sentenced. Lambesis has been sentence to six years in prison in a San Diego Superior Courtroom for attempting to hire a hit man to kill his wife, Meggan, while he had custody of the couple’s three children. Reportedly, the verdict was handed down while Lambesis’ former bandmates, Nick Hipa, Phil Sgrosso and Josh Gilbert looked on as well as more than a dozen supporters on Meggan’s behalf who showed up with small yellow felt hearts pinned to their shirts.

Meggan, as well as her parents, spoke to the court. Her father Mike, spoke about what an inspiration his daughter is to people, but how at the same time, the family still fears that there could still be an assassination hit on them, “We know that prison is a great alibi for someone who wants to complete the deed.” Meggan’s mother called out her former son-in-law by saying that her daughter “was a mere inconvenience to this narcissistic child.”

Defense attorney Tom Warwick attempted to ask for leniency, but was quickly declined. When Warwick returned to the floor to speak, he attempted to place the blame on the person who supplied his client with steroids. The judge, once again shot down his claim by pointing out that other men who had used steroids did not end up plotting their wives’ murder and that it was a “flaw of character” and “something twisted inside a character” which would lead to these types of thoughts. 

The final sentence at the end of the day was six years in prison with 48 days credit for custody already served. The judge also confirmed Meggan and the children would receive 10 years’ protection. Meanwhile, Lambesis is due back in court for a civil suit that was filed by Meggan; she is suing the singer for $2 million.

Following the sentencing announcement, Alternative Press released an in-depth interview with Lambesis which is worth a read in our opinion.

Former As I Lay Dying Guitarist Releases Statement About Frontman’s Sentencing

Ever since former As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis was arrest last year for the attempted murder of his wife Meggan, we have been informing you on what has been happening. From his initial arrest and first court hearing, to his sentencing last Friday and his one-on-one interview with Alternative Press’ Ryan J. Downey , which should be read, Lambesis’ trial has been one that the music world has been watching unfold.

But for anyone who felt a sliver of sympathy for the vocalist after reading the in-depth interview he gave before his sentencing, there is one person who does not feel anything for Lambesis and that person used to be one of his bandmates.

Former As I Lay Dying guitarist and current Wovenwar guitarist Nick Hipa has finally spoken out against his bandmate and he’s not at all sympathetic for him saying in his statement that he told Lambesis himself that his support would be with the victim, not the criminal.

Hipa, along with fellow bandmates Jordon Mancino and Phil Sgrosso sat in last Friday at the trial to watch as the verdict was read. The former bandmates sat along Meggan’s family and supporters as Lambesis was sentenced to six years in prison.

Read the full statement below.

“Last Friday I sat in a courtroom to support a friend. For the better part of a decade our professional and personal lives were woven in a relationship akin to family. As if family, the intention of my attendance was to publicly acknowledge the deep care and compassion I hold for this individual.

I watched as she searched for the strength to behold her transgressor for the first time in over a year since learning of his plot to have her murdered. I listened to her describe the love she once possessed for this man whom she adored, trusted, and depended on as her husband. I followed along as she detailed his abandonment of her and her children; a betrayal he failed to own but opted to blame on a lost sense of morality. This excuse became further excused by a defense that drug abuse had clouded his judgement. 

She attempted to rebuild a life with three young children apart from a man who viewed them as disposable. The strength and resilience of these children—whom she saved from abandonment, poverty, and certain early death—were being further challenged by this domestic unravelling. Her desire was to give them love and stability, his response was to have her executed.

I observed his defense acknowledge the crime but defend it once again with the argument that steroids created mental instability. I followed as the prosecution reminded the court of an intricately calculated series of actions occurring over the course of many weeks. A scheme which involved using her children to secure gate codes for a would be assassin, and his plans for their further exploitation as an alibi; a plot indicative of careful premeditation over momentary mindlessness. 

I watched as a Judge highlighted how many men use steroids but do not plot to murder innocent women, and for someone to move towards such action reveals something twisted within their character. He continued to point out that a willingness to involve children in such matters is deeply disturbing and reprehensible as well.

The accounts I interpreted within this courtroom were details of people and a past that I had known and observed first hand. All and everything was as I knew it to be.

I share this in response to an interview between Tim Lambesis and Ryan J. Downey that was released on AltPress.com moments after this women and her family were given their closure. Behind the facade of a penitent man with renewed outlook, restored faith, and apparent remorse is a fairly appalling agenda to further damage the lives and reputations of his non-supporters. It is the continued defense of behavior that leveled every facet of an innocent woman’s being and traumatized children who have already persevered through the actual pain of an orphan’s life. 

There is no contrition in his pseudo-philosophical jargon, and the verbalized assessment of his relationship with myself and former bandmates is absolute slander. I had spoken with him directly and in length of how 100% of my heart, love, and loyalty was being directed in support towards his victims. These victims being people I had opened my heart to as family for many years and whom I pray will find healing from his deep abuse. In complete disregard for the truth as I’m certain he understands it, he opted to fabricate motives that describe us abandoning him as a callous business decision. 
The intent of his defamation is to create an air of sympathy and support under the false pretense of a forthcoming tell-all. Unfortunately this has worked to a degree, as many strangers have put effort into projecting hatred towards those of us who chose to defend the guiltless subjects of his crimes. 

It is regrettable that he utilized this platform as a means to justify his conduct. The prosecution of this case profiled him as a sociopathic narcissist in definite need of rehabilitation. For those of us who truly know the man for who he is, it’s shameful that in spite of all he is still as he ever was and just as they say. 

For Jordan, Phil, Josh, and myself, we’ll continue to carry on knowing we behaved honorably, lovingly, and loyally to the individuals who truly needed it.”

Steve Klein’s Attorney and New Found Glory Release Statement

UPDATE:

An hour or so after Steve Klein’s attorney released a statement on her client’s behalf, New Found Glory have also released their own statement about the claims made against Klein.

FROM NEW FOUND GLORY:

“Upon our return from Warped Tour Australia, Steve made us aware of possible allegations that might be made against him. At that point, not knowing all the details, we made the decision to part ways in order for him to deal with these personal issues. Us 4 members of New Found Glory have given our entire lives to this band and will continue to do so. We’ve been able to play all over the world for the most amazing fans. We can’t wait to get in the studio to make a new album and we can’t wait to get back on the road! Just coming off the Parahoy cruise and a surprise show in our hometown we are more inspired than ever! Thank you so much to everyone around the globe for always sticking by us. The future is bright.”

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It’s been a really long day for everyone involved in the charges against ex-New Found Glory guitarist, Steve Klein. All day, we have been updating the original article with pieces of information as they are revealed and we are sure it’s not going to end here.

Just a little while ago, a statement was released from Klein’s attorney, Debra White, discussing the difficulties of handling a case especially when it has already been released to the media and people are ready to crucify the defendant.

FROM DEBRA WHITE:

“It is a difficult challenge to defend oneself in the media when there is a pending criminal case. This is because people are quick to assume that if a person is charged with a crime, they are also guilty as charged. And it is especially difficult because criminal defense attorneys insist that their clients not talk about the case to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected. Furthermore, attorneys are limited by law as to what can and cannot be said about a case to the public. 

In the matter of Steve Klein, since his case has now been brought into issue by the media, I am permitted to make a few statements. To that effect, I offer you the following indisputable facts about the accusations:

1. Steve Klein is not accused of having any lewd actual physical contact with any minor. 

2. ALL charges against Steve are derived solely from online consensual video chats between Steve and some female strangers he met on an adult website. Steve believed the females were over the age of 18.

3. The females alleged to be “minors” in this case are not known females. This means that no one, not the prosecution, not the police, and not the defense, actually know who the females are and no one knows their true age. 

4. The possession of child pornography charge is based solely on Steve allegedly “possessing” the videos of chats with the female strangers from the adult website. 

This is about all I am permitted to disclose at this time. But I can tell you, from my many years of experience in this specialty area of criminal defense, I wholeheartedly believe that Steve Klein is innocent of all of these charges. 

Steve is devastated by these accusations. He has lost his band, his livelihood, and his ex-wife continues to push for full custody of his children using this case as her pawn while he literally fights for his life. Despite this heavy hand, Steve remains strong and hopeful that he will be vindicated.”

Former New Found Glory Guitarist Arraigned

UPDATE: 

Things are starting to get more intense on the Steve Klein arraignment case.

If he is convicted of all his charges then he can face around 27 years in prison even though he has not been registered as a sex offender in California’s Megan’s Law, a database where sex offenders must register themselves.

The breakdown for the charges can be seen below and how many years he can serve for each charge.

• 2 counts of lewd conduct with a minor under the age of 14 — 3, 6 or 8 years per count (state prison)
• 3 counts of lewd conduct with a minor 14 or 15 — 1, 2 or 3 years per count (state prison) or not more than 1 year per count (county jail)
• 1 count of intent to commit lewd acts with a minor — sentence varies
• 1 count of possession of child pornography — up to 1 year (state prison or county jail) and/or a $2,500 fine
  

The time of the violation, according to the docket, was April 14, 2011, but there seems to be public documentation of Klein and his two daughters bowling. As for what happened after the bowling date, there’s nothing on his whereabouts until the next day when he took a plane to Hartford, CT for an April 16 gig with New Found Glory.

At the time, Klein was married through January 2012. As of Sept. 21, 2012 there was a lawsuit regarding property ownership filed by his wife, Amanda Klein who now goes by Amanda Mcculloch.

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It’s been about three months since New Found Glory revealed that they had fired guitarist and founding member Steve Klein, but until now, the reason behind the abrupt release was unknown.

Today, a report surfaced on idobi.com that Klein had been arraigned in San Luis Obispo, CA court on multiple charges, including lewd conduct with a minor under the age of 14.

On Dec. 12, 2013, the former NFG band mate was arraigned and plead not guilty to the lewd conduct charge as well as three counts of lewd conduct with a minor 14 or 15, one count of intent to commit lewd act with a minor, and one count of possession of child pornography.

Klein was not arrested and booked after the arraignment, but rather was let free until his next scheduled court appearances on March 20 and April 10.

Coincidentally, the same day that Klein was arraigned, New Found Glory took to their Facebook to advise fans that he had been removed from the band, but assured those fans that they would solider on without him especially since they were already booked for the Parahoy! cruise among other scheduled events.

Earlier this week during an interview with Billboard, Chad Gilbert revealed that the band were in no hurry to find someone to replace Klein and are currently doing fine with just being a four-piece.

As I Lay Dying Frontman Pleads Guilty to Hiring a Hit

As I Lay Dying’s Tim Lambesis has officially plead guilty to “Solicitation of Another to Commit Murder. “

Last May, the singer had attempted to hire someone to murder his estranged wife Meggan when he had custody of the pair’s children for a weekend. Lambesis had unknowingly given money, a picture of his wife, gate codes to the home and even the dates when to kill her to an undercover detective, foiling the plan before it even began.

Previously, he had explained that the reasoning behind the murder plot was because Meggan would obtain about sixty percent of his income when the pair officially divorced and would not be able to take his children with him while on tour.

According to Lambgoat’s insider at the courthouse, the sentence which Lambesis had been given, nine years, is not concrete so could change at any given time and four years of parole once he is released. On top of that sentence, he has also been ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and is still in the process of a $2 million civil suit filed by his wife for emotional distress, domestic violence and assault. That case is scheduled to hit San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse in April.