NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CN) — A woman who says she was raped at a Nashville concert featuring Grammy award-winning rapper Drake has sued the companies and musicians that produced the event for $25 million.
Jane Doe’s Tuesday complaint in Davidson County Court claims there was insufficient security at the 2016 concert and one of the companies working the event negligently hired her rapist.
The musicians Aubrey Drake Graham (Drake), and Nayvadius Demun Wilburn pka Future are named as defendants, along with their touring companies.
“Each and every one of the defendants was the agent of the others in context of the event, and, as a result, each is responsible for the conduct of the others,” the complaint states.
When Drake and Future took to the stage in the Bridgestone Arena on Aug. 14 last year on their Summer Sixteen Tour, the other defendants provided services at the arena.
Predators Holdings LLC, which owns NHL team the Nashville Predators, also managed the arena as a concert space. Smoky Mountain Sportservice, a subsidiary of Delaware North Cos., provided concessions. Contemporary Services Corp., which got its start providing security for rock and roll concerts in the 1960s, worked security, as it does for 150 other venues, according to its website.
Asked for comment, Jane Doe’s attorney Alex Little said: “I think no-comment for now has got to be where I go. I’m sorry.”
Jane Doe, then 28, traveled from Indiana to attend the concert that drew 15,000 people and brought in $1.4 million for the defendants.
It “was supposed to be (a) fun-filled night with friends,” the complaint states.
Leavy Johnson, who worked as a subcontractor at the event, told Doe he could get her backstage to meet the performers, according to the complaint. Saying she “trusted Johnson as a representative of the defendants,” Doe says, she followed him to a dark area of the building, where he “pushed Jane Doe to the ground and violently assaulted and raped her, shattering her cell phone and causing severe physical and psychological injury.”
Johnson did not show up for work after that night and the U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force arrested him in Tampa, Florida in April this year, Nashville County said in a statement.
“Johnson, 37, is named in a sealed rape indictment returned by the Davidson County Grand Jury in January,” the county said in the April 7 statement. He was extradited to Tennessee in May and booked into jail in Nashville to await trial.
At the time Johnson worked at the arena, his criminal record included a conviction for theft and an outstanding warrant for assault, according to the complaint. “Defendants knew or should have known that the historical criminality of Johnson would likely be repetitive,” it adds.
Doe seeks punitive damages of at least $25 million for premises liability, negligent hiring and retention, pain and suffering and lost wages. Among the defendants’ negligence, she says was failing to install security cameras.
Danny Shaklan, marketing director for the Nashville Predators, said in a statement, “The safety of our guests has been and is a top priority but it is our consistent position that commenting on pending litigation is inappropriate so we will make no further comment at this time.”
Neither Contemporary Services Corp. nor a representative for the rapper Future immediately responded to requests for comment.
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