Festival sued over fan's death

Jessica Michalik,15, suffered a heart attack when thousands of music fans stampeded forward during a Limp Bizkit performance at the Sydney festival back in 2001. The inquest into her death concluded that frontman Fred Durst should have stopped the band as soon as he realised there were problems in the crowd, and that the organisers of Big Day Out should have been better prepared for such an incident. 

Durst  made an emotional apology to Jessica's parents via videolink during the inquest into her death, saying: "I'm really, deeply disturbed and sorry about what happened to your daughter and we can only better ourselves from it. This has emotionally scarred us and we pray every day that we are going to do everything we can to ensure this does not happen to someone else's child. I'm really sorry."

Following the tragedy, Big Day Out's promoters introduced a number of safety measures at subsequent events, many of which have become standard practices in the Australian live music industry.

But four years on, the parents of Jessica are now launching civil actions against the band and the promoters. George and Barbara Michalik have initiated separate legal action, the former against the Big Day Out promoters Creative Entertainment Australia and the security firm employed on the day, the latter against Limp Bizkit's company Limp Bizness, and the individual members of the band.

George Michalik's lawyer, Michael Short, told reporters this week: "The purpose of the action is to find a degree of vindication. It is about completion and finalising things. This is a civil action. The only remedy that the law will allow will be a payment of money and that will go to the parents".

Next year's Big Day Out festivals take place throughout January and February at different venues in Australia and New Zealand, featuring The Beastie Boys and The Chemical Borthers among others . CLICK HERE for more information.

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