Woman Wins Fishbone Suit

A federal judge found that Fishbone’s Angelo “Dr. Madd Vibe” Moore has shown little remorse and hasn’t stopped stage-diving despite frequent injuries to concertgoers.

Kimberly Myers, 46, was hurt 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 in Wednesday’s ruling.

The award includes $1.1 million in compensatory damages against Moore and his band and business partner, bassist John Norwood Fisher. Moore was also ordered to pay $250,000 in punitive damages.

Amee Hamlin of Silverback Artist Management, which manages the Los Angeles-based band, said she had no immediate comment on the award.

Myer, a mother of three, previously settled with Silverback and the University of Pennsylvania, which operates the music venue.

Fishbone has been stage-diving since the 1980s and was sued at least once before over a similar injury, the judge said.

“Moore testified that every couple of months an ambulance is called to the concert venue,” DuBois wrote. “Moore and Fisher also use stage-diving to publicize the band, such as by including stage-diving images on album covers and promotional t-shirts.”

A photo on the band’s Facebook page shows Moore continuing to sing as he is held aloft by audience members at an unidentified performance.

The site describes Fishbone as “trailblazing” for more than 25 years “through the history of American Ska, Rock Fusion and (so called) Black Rock.”

Moore, in a February 2011 deposition, said the band doesn’t issue warnings about the act because it detracts from the show’s “theatrics.”

“People want to be on the edge when they go to a Fishbone show,” Moore said, according to the ruling.

At the same time, the judge noted, Moore has admitted he usually can see “a dead spot” in the audience with “a lot of (surrounding) security” after someone is injured.

“Moore’s primary concern when he is stage diving is with own safety and with the potential for what Moore believes to be frivolous lawsuits filed by ‘predators’,” DuBois worte in his decision.

He noted that the performer, when asked about the hazard of stage-driving, responded, “The risk that you might hit the floor.” Moore also acknowledged under questioning that he tries to jump into a crowd of as many people as possible to minimize his own chances of injury,” DuBois noted.

Myers had not known the band was on the schedule when she went to World Cafe Live that night, her lawsuit said. 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 ruling said.