Kaskade Wins $8M Lawsuit Against Las Vegas Nightclub
The judge in the case decided that KAOS owners "did not even consider" alternative performance arrangements for Kaskade's missed dates.
A Nevada federal judge has ordered the owner of Las Vegas’ KAOS nightclub to pay dance artist Kaskade $7,950,000 after cancelling his $300,000 per night residency.
After the KAOS nightclub residency only lasted a few months, Kaskade, born Ryan Raddon, filed a lawsuit against club owners FP Holdings, a company controlled by Frank III and Lorenzo Fertitta, claiming he still had dozens of unplayed dates for which he was owned money.
Lawyers for FP Holdings argued that the number of unpaid dates for which Raddon was owed money should not include 30 planned shows in 2020, during much of which Las Vegas and much of the world were shut down anyway. They argued the company owed Raddon just $1.2 million
In a ruling on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Gordon disagreed, saying had Raddon not been booked for KAOS he “could have performed several shows between Jan. 1 and March 15, 2020, before the shutdown order,” Gordon wrote. He also chided the Fertittas for not trying to explore other arrangements to stage Kaskade concerts, dismissing the FP Holdings’ claims that drive-in shows or virtual shows were not financially viable.
Raddon was “ready, willing, and able to perform on alternative dates and in alternative locations, but FP offered none and did not even consider any,” Gordon wrote.
Besides the compensation for unpaid performances, Gordon also ordered FP Holdings to cover Raddon’s legal costs. The judge said that awarded payments would be decided in future proceedings, after Raddon and FP Holdings hold discussions and “try to reach an agreement on them.”
Jordan Siev of Reed Smith LLP, who led the trial team, said in a statement “We are pleased that the Court found in Kaskade’s favor and upheld the parties’ carefully negotiated agreement.”
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