A fan who slipped in a puddle of urine and water at Soldier Field in Chicago while going for a bathroom break during a U2 concert was awarded $2.6 million on Tuesday (March 12). The man, Steven Chang, broke and disfigured his leg, forcing doctors to move his calf muscle just over his knee.
In determining the award, the jury considered the fact that Chang was active, has disfigurement, underwent costly medical procedures, and had tremendous pain and suffering due to the injury. The jury also validated the award on compensation Chang would have for the rest of the years of his life. Chang had eight surgeries and he now has a noticeable limp due to his shortened left leg.
One of the lawyers on the case, David Wise of Burke, Mahoney & Wise, revealed that none of the award comes out of U2’s pocket. “U2 is not liable for any of that,” he said. “The parties that are responsible for paying that out include the Chicago Park District, a company called Soldier Field Joint Venture, and a company called We’re Cleaning, which is a company that was subcontracted to the joint venture which was responsible for cleaning the washrooms in the Soldier Field facility during the U2 concert. Their insurance companies will pay that judgment.”
Wise was asked if after all this, Chang was still a U2 fan. “Yeah, sure he is, and you know what? A lot of people on the jury are too. Because that was one of the questions that came up during Voir Dire, which is the process whereby the jury was selected by the attorneys. Almost all of them were asked if they were U2 fans and I think without exception they not only all knew U2 but all of them loved U2. But U2 is not a party. They certainly were the entertainment for the night but they weren’t involved in it,” he said.
