Thunder on the Mountain Update
Brett Mosiman and his festival promotion companies Pipeline Productions and Backwood Entertainment have agreed to settle the claims brought against them by purchasers of Thunder on the Mountain passes and vendor booths.
The settlement must first be preliminarily approved by the Pulaski County Circuit Court (of Little Rock, Arkansas), and thereafter, notice of the settlement's terms will be provided to the class members with an explanation of their rights moving forward.
The underlying action alleged that Mr. Mosiman and his companies joint ventured Thunder on the Mountain with two venture capital firms from Denver, named The Madison Companies and Horsepower Entertainment. The venture capital firms directed all of the management actions of Mosiman and his companies, and were supposed to provide the funds necessary to organize, market, and hold the music festival. But they pulled out of Thunder in the early spring months of 2015, and then sued Mosiman and his companies in Delaware. That action was dismissed.
Mosiman, Pipeline, and Backwood sued the venture capital firms in federal court in Kansas and successfully beat motions to dismiss there. That federal case is in the discovery process now and several depositions have been taken. The case is set for trial in August of 2019.
The settlement with Mosiman and his companies, if approved, will provide the class members an interest in Mosiman's federal lawsuit against the venture capital firms in Kansas. The claims asserted against the venture capital firms are in the tens of millions of dollars, and based upon the financial ruin caused Mosiman, Pipeline and Backwood by the venture capital firms.
The settlement provides the class a minimum of $450,000.00 and a maximum of $1,000,000.00 from Mosiman and his companies if they are successful in their Kansas suit. It appears from records related to Thunder that class members that were not provided refunds or chargebacks to their debit or credit cards have suffered about $600,000.00 in losses. Assuming the settlement is approved, Class Counsel will file a lien in the Kansas case in order to protect the assigned interest to the class.
Additionally, Class Counsel filed a class case against Madison and Horsepower in the Lonoke County Circuit Court (Lonoke, Arkansas), and in order to further pursue those companies for Class members' losses.
The motion for preliminary approval of the settlement may be reviewed by clicking this link: SETTLEMENT.
The class action filed in Lonoke County Circuit Court may be reviewed by clicking this link: LONOKE COUNTY ACTION.