Kai Cenat Liable For Harms in NYC Giveaway; He Was Obviously Negligent, Injuries and Damages Were Foreseeable
Kai Cenat May Be Found Legally Liable For Injuries And Property Damage
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 4, 2023) – Kai Cenat, one of the most popular streamers on the video game streaming website Twitch, would likely be found legally liable for all of the many injuries and property damage he caused by announcing to his millions of followers that there would be a video game giveaway at Union Square in New York City, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf.
In a strikingly similar case, a radio station announced a contest with a prize for the first person to catch a disk jockey driving downtown. This, it was found, encouraged participants to drive recklessly to follow him, and caused the accident which killed a innocent person. The station was held liable for negligently causing the death, even though the results of their negligent announcement might not have been clearly foreseeable.
Today’s case is a far stronger one, since anyone would realize that advertising such a giveaway at an announced time and location would attract thousands of immature fans eager for the prizes, whereas it is somewhat less foreseeable that offering a prize for catching a disk jockey would cause driving so reckless that a death would result, says Banzhaf, who teaches this type of legal liability.
Indeed, says Banzhaf, the streamer might even be legally liable for the huge costs his prank caused the city in terms of injuries to police, and even their time to quell the riot and prevent further harm.
Anyone who is negligent in creating a clear and unnecessary risk is legally responsible for all of the injuries, damages, and harms which are reasonably foreseeable, he explains, noting that civil law suits for the huge damages the streamer caused would create far more deterrence for similar actions than a minor fine for crimes such as disturbing the peace.
Banzhaf is best known for developing new legal theories to sue tobacco companies – he’s been called a “Driving Force Behind the Lawsuits That Have Cost Tobacco Companies Billions of Dollars,” and “The Law Professor Who Masterminded Litigation Against the Tobacco Industry” – as well as for novel successful lawsuits against McDonald’s, the nation’s railroads, and Spriro T. Agnew.
