Soca artist Destra Garcia has been ordered to pay a little over $50,000 in compensation to a fan who suffered a ruptured bladder during an impromptu onstage performance in Belize in 2015.
In a judgement delivered last Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Belize ordered that Garcia pay Fernando Oliva BZ$16,577.06 (TT$55,900.44), for her negligence in his injury.
The court’s ruling was a default judgment as Garcia did not enter an appearance or file a defence to the lawsuit even though she was served with it at her home in El Dorado by a Marshall’s assistant attached to the T&T Supreme Court on May 4.
The compensation awarded by the court represented the costs of Oliva’s medical expenses, his loss of earnings while he was recovering from his injury and his legal fees.
Since receiving the judgment, Oliva has retained local attorneys Christophe Rodriguez and Shane Kingston to seek to enforce the judgement against Garcia.
The T&T Guardian understands that Garcia’s legal representatives had not contacted Oliva’s local legal team, up to late yesterday.
Oliva’s injury occurred on September 9, 2015, during a Carnival Overload Soca Event in Belize City, Belize.
During Garcia’s performance of her hit song “Lucy”, he was invited on stage and instructed by her to lay face upwards on the floor, close his eyes and put his hands behind his head.
“Once Oliva had complied with Garcia’s instructions, she then suddenly jumped into the air and landed forcefully on Oliva’s groin area, thereby causing extensive damage to his bladder,” court documents stated.
Oliva claimed that Garcia acted recklessly by failing to take proper care and precaution to prevent injury to him once she invited him on stage.
He was taken hospital and had to undergo surgery.
The incident was videotaped and clips of it were circulated on social media websites as news of the judgment began circulating on social media.
The T&T Guardian attempted to contact Garcia and her members of her management team listed on bookings section of her Twitter account. However, the calls went to voicemail and they did not respond to WhatsApp messages.
Garcia made two posts on her Instagram account yesterday, both of which highlighted that she was enroute to the Untied States’ Virgin Islands to perform in its annual Carnival celebrations.
Garcia was expected to give a response on the issue via social media yesterday but none had been posted up to late yesterday.
