Court Awards Woodstock 50 Partial Victory Over Former Financiers

May 16, 2019
Court Awards Woodstock 50 Partial Victory Over Former Financiers

In the latest installment of the ongoing Woodstock 50 saga, the New York Supreme Court ruled in favor of Michael Lang and the festival’s organizers Wednesday, Rolling Stone reports, though Lang and company will not be recovering the money that they claimed was unlawfully taken from their bank account by Japanese company Dentsu, the former primary financial backer for Woodstock 50.

The organizers had filed for an injunction against Dentsu, alleging that the company’s premature “cancellation” of Woodstock 50 when they pulled out of the festival last month was unwarranted. The court agreed, ruling that Woodstock 50 can indeed go on as planned.

Woodstock 50 did not, however, recover the nearly $18 million that they claimed Dentsu had illegally withdrawn from the festival’s bank account. New York Supreme Court Judge Barry Ostrager wrote that Woodstock LLC “falls woefully short of making the heightened showing necessary to warrant a mandatory injunction ordering Amplifi [Dentsu’s subsidiary] to return $17.8 million to the Festival Bank.”

“We have always relied on the truth and have never lost faith that the Festival would take place,” Michael Lang said after the partial victory. “I would like to thank all of the talent and their representatives for their patience and support. Woodstock 50 will be an amazing and inspiring festival experience.”

At this time, Lang and his team of organizers still need the financial backing that they lost when Dentsu backed out of the festival, and the fate of Woodstock 50 remains unclear. The festival is scheduled for Aug. 16–18 in Watkins Glen, NY, with an eclectic lineup of artists like Dead & Company, Santana, Jay-Z, Robert Plant, The Killers, Chance the Rapper, Brandi Carlile, Miley Cyrus, Gary Clark Jr., Sturgill Simpson, The Raconteurs and many more.

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