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Fishbone Stage-Dive Victim Gets $1.4M for Injuries

By Aditi Mukherji, JD on February 18, 2014 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A New Jersey woman has received $1.4 million in damages in a lawsuit against the rock band Fishbone for a stage dive gone wrong.

At a music festival in 2010, Kimberly Myers broke her skull and collarbone when Fishbone's lead singer Angelo "Dr. Madd Vibe" Moore dove into the crowd. A Pennsylvania federal judge recently ordered the band and Moore to dive deeply into their pockets to compensate Myers for a variety of damages.

Keeping with classic rebellious rocker spirit, Moore was singled out for punitive damages.

$1.1M in Compensatory Damages

Myers was injured during a performance at WXPN's World Cafe Live in February 2010. She lost consciousness when she was knocked to the floor, yet the band "continued to perform as if nothing had happened," U.S. District Judge Jan DuBois wrote.

The award includes $1.1 million in compensatory damages against Moore and his band and business partner, bassist John Norwood Fisher. Compensatory damages are awarded to cover a plaintiff's losses, including medical costs, lost wages, and noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering.

Myers' medical bill came to $15,846 in out-of-pocket expenses. Her future medical costs were estimated to tally up to $351,299, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She works in management for a company that conducts pharmaceutical clinical trials, but now suffers from memory problems, shoulder pain, and autoimmune problems that led to lupus, the AP reports.

Myers also received an additional $750,000 for noneconomic damages, including future pain and suffering, embarrassment and humiliation, loss of the ability to enjoy the pleasures of life and disfigurement.

$250K in Punitive Damages

Moore was also ordered to pay $250,000 in punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded in cases of serious or malicious wrongdoing to punish or deter the wrongdoer or deter others from behaving similarly. Unlike compensatory damages, which focus on compensating the plaintiff, punitive damages focus on the wrongdoer.

In this case, it seems the damages aim to deter the practice of stage diving, something Fishbone is well known for doing.

The rocker was slapped with the $250,000 punitive tab because he refused to answer questions at his deposition about drug use during the date of the incident, intentionally dove off the stage despite knowing the serious risk of harm it poses to concert-goers, and "exhibits little remorse or impetus to change his conduct," DuBois wrote.

Will the punitive damages clip the consummate stage-diver's wings? We'll just have to wait and see.

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