The more than 300 lawsuits that have been filed so far in Houston following a massive crowd surge at the Astroworld festival that left 10 people dead have been consolidated and will be handled by one judge as the cases proceed through the court system, a judicial board ruled. In an order issued on Tuesday, the Board of Judges of the Civil Trial Division of the Harris County District Courts in Houston granted a request by attorney Brent Coon to have all pretrial matters in the various lawsuits be handled by one judge. If any of the lawsuits go to trial, the case would return to its original court. "This consolidation will promote the expeditious and efficient administration of justice," the two-page order said.All pretrial motions and issues in the lawsuits will be heard by state District Judge Kristen Hawkins.Those who have been sued include rap superstar Travis Scott, who created the festival and was the headliner, concert promoter Live Nation and other companies connected to the event. The 10 people who died were among 50,000 who had attended the festival and were in the audience on Nov. 5 when Scott's concert turned deadly as fans surged toward the stage during his set. The youngest victim was 9-year-old Ezra Blount. The others who died ranged in age from 14 to 27. Some 300 people were injured and treated at the festival site and 25 were taken to hospitals.Coon, who is representing about 2,000 concertgoers and is asking for $10 billion in damages, made his consolidation request last month. He said Wednesday that having all the cases before one judge will create efficiency, eliminate redundancy and spread costs in the cases to everyone involved in the litigation. "You don't want to have all the same issues argued and all the same witnesses deposed over and over again in every courtroom," Coon said.But the consolidation that was granted on Tuesday might conflict with a similar request made by lawyers for ASM Global Parent, Inc. and its subsidiaries, which manage events at NRG Park, where the Astroworld festival was held. Lawyers for ASM Global have also asked in a motion filed with the Texas Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which is overseen by the Texas Supreme Court, to consolidate the lawsuits but assign them to a different Harris County judge, Lauren Reeder. "Counsel representing more than 2,500 plaintiffs or potential plaintiffs and all principal defendants have agreed to this motion," ASM Global's attorneys said in their motion, which was filed on Dec. 1. ASM Global's attorneys have asked that all discovery in the lawsuits — when attorneys can request or obtain documents or other information or depose witnesses — be halted until the state panel issues a ruling. Attorneys for ASM Global didn't immediately return emails on Wednesday seeking comment. Coon said he believes the company's request is no longer needed. If the state panel were to issue a decision, it would overrule the local order. "Harris County has already addressed that with this order. So, if the (Texas) Supreme Court did anything now, they would just be meddling," Coon said. Earlier this week, Scott's attorneys also filed his first response to several of the lawsuits, denying the accusations against him and asking that the cases be dismissed. Coon said Scott's denial of the accusations and his request for dismissal are standard in such lawsuits and similar to an individual entering a not guilty plea at the start of a criminal case. Scott and the event organizers are the focus of a criminal investigation by Houston police. No one has been charged, and no timetable has been set for when the investigation would be completed. Scott's attorney had previously reached out to the families of the 10 who died, offering to pay for their loved ones' funeral costs. Several of the families turned down the offer.

Investigators are expected to examine the design of safety barriers and the use of crowd control in determining what led to a crush of spectators at a Houston music festival that left eight people dead and hundreds more injured.Authorities planned to use videos, witness interviews and a review of concert procedures to figure out what went wrong Friday night during a performance by rapper Travis Scott. The tragedy unfolded when the crowd rushed the stage, squeezing people so tightly they couldn't breathe.Billy Nasser, 24, who had traveled from Indianapolis to attend the concert, said about 15 minutes into Scott's set, things got "really crazy" and people began crushing one another. He said he "was picking people up and trying to drag them out."Nasser said he found a concertgoer on the ground."I picked him up. People were stepping on him. People were like stomping, and I picked his head up and I looked at his eyes, and his eyes were just white, rolled back to the back of his head," he said.Over the weekend, a makeshift memorial of flowers, votive candles, condolence notes and T-shirts took shape outside at NRG Park.Michael Suarez, 26, visited the growing memorial after the concert. "It's very devastating. No one wants to see or hear people dying at a festival," Suarez said. "We were here to have a good time — a great time — and it's devastating to hear someone lost their lives."The dead, according to friends and family members, included a 14-year-old high school student; a 16-year-old girl who loved dancing; and a 21-year-old engineering student at the University of Dayton. The youngest was 14, the oldest 27. Houston officials did not immediately release the victims' names or the cause of death, but family and friends began to name their loved ones and tell their stories Sunday. Thirteen people remained hospitalized Sunday. Their conditions were not disclosed. Over 300 people were treated at a field hospital at the concert.City officials said they were in the early stages of investigating what caused the pandemonium at the sold-out Astroworld festival, an event founded by Scott. About 50,000 people were there. Authorities said that among other things, they will look at how the area around the stage was designed.Julio Patino, of Naperville, Illinois, who was in London on business when he got a middle-of-the-night call informing him his 21-year-old son Franco was dead, said he had a lot of questions about what happened."These concerts should be controlled," Patino said. "If they don't know how to do that, they should have canceled the concert right then, when they noticed there was an overcrowd." He added: "They should not wait until they see people laying down on the floor, lifeless."Steven Adelman, vice president of the industry group Event Safety Alliance, which was formed after the collapse of a stage at the Indiana State Fair in 2011 killed seven people, helped write industry guidelines widely used today. Besides looking at safety barriers and whether they correctly directed crowds or contributed to the crush of spectators, Adelman said, authorities will look at whether something incited the crowd besides Scott taking the stage.Adelman said another question is whether there was enough security there, noting there is a nationwide shortage of people willing to take low-wage, part-time security gigs."Security obviously was unable to stop people. Optically, that's really bad-looking," he said. "But as for what it tells us, it's too early to say."Contemporary Services Corp., headquartered in Los Angeles, was responsible for security staff at the festival, according to county records in Texas. Representatives for the company — which advertises online as being "recognized worldwide as the pioneer, expert and only employee owned company in the crowd management field" — did not immediately respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment.Houston police and fire department officials said their investigation will include reviewing video taken by concert promoter Live Nation, as well as dozens of clips from people at the show. Officials also planned to review the event's security plan and various permits issued to organizers to see whether they were properly followed. In addition, investigators planned to speak with Live Nation representatives, Scott and concertgoers.Izabella Ramirez of Texas City was celebrating her 21st birthday and said that once Scott came on stage, no one could move."Everybody was squishing in, and people were trying to move themselves to the front. You couldn't even lift up your arms," Ramirez said. Ramirez said a security guard pulled her over the barricade, while her date, Jason Rodriguez, lifted her up."Everyone was yelling for different things. They were either yelling for Travis or they were yelling for help," Rodriguez said.On video posted to social media, Scott could be seen stopping the concert at one point and asking for aid for someone in the audience: "Security, somebody help real quick."There is a long history of similar catastrophes at concerts, sporting events and even religious events. In 1979, 11 people were killed as thousands of fans tried to get into Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum to see a concert by The Who. Other past crowd catastrophes include the deaths of 97 people at a soccer match in Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 in Sheffield, England, and numerous disasters connected with the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.Experts who have studied deaths caused by crowd surges say they are often a result of too many people packed into too small a space. Also Sunday, one of the first of many expected lawsuits was filed on behalf of a man injured in the crush of people in state court in Houston. Attorneys for Manuel Souza sued Scott, Live Nation and others, saying they were responsible. In a tweet posted Saturday, Scott said he was "absolutely devastated by what took place." He pledged to work "together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need."___Associated Press writers Jake Bleiberg in Dallas; Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; Kristin M. Hall in Nashville and Bob Christie in New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

Officials in Texas say at least eight people are dead and several others injured in a crowd surge at the Astroworld Festival.The surge broke out just after 9 p.m. Friday while rapper Travis Scott was performing, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told reporters at a news conference.“The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, and that caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries,” the fire chief said. “People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic.”The show was called off shortly after several people began suffering injuries.Officials transported 17 people to the hospital, including 11 who were in cardiac arrest, Peña said. Many people were also treated at the scene at NRG Park, where a field hospital had been set up.Approximately 50,000 people were in attendance at the festival, Peña said.The fire chief added that officials did not immediately know the causes of death for the eight people who died. A medical examiner would investigate. The deceased had not been identified as of early Saturday.Officials set up a reunification center at a hotel for family members who had not been able to reach relatives who had been in attendance at the event.Astroworld is a two-day music festival that was scheduled to take place Friday and Saturday in Houston. The event was sold out, according to the Astroworld website. Saturday's performances have been canceled.Event promoters had arranged for medical units to be on scene at the festival, however once the crowd surge began, those units were “quickly overwhelmed,” Peña said.Houston Police Chief Troy Finner called for calm and urged people not to jump to conclusions as to what caused the surge.“I think it's very important that none of us speculate. Nobody has all the answers tonight,” Finner said. He added that there have been several rumors surrounding the event that authorities would look into.“We're going to do an investigation and find out because it's not fair to the producers, to anybody else involved, until we determine what happened, what caused the surge,” he said. “We don't know, but we will find out.”