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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 9:35 p.m., Friday, April 24, 2009

Lawyer: Aerosmith settlement means Maui concert

By Alan Yonan Jr.
Advertiser Staff Writer

Aerosmith has agreed to perform on Maui this fall as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit fans filed against the band after it canceled a sold-out concert on the Valley Isle in October 2007, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said today.

"Everyone who bought a ticket to the original concert will receive a free ticket, and all out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed regardless of the amount," said Brandee Faria, one of three attorneys representing the jilted concertgoers.

"They are going to do right by the fans and come back and do a concert," said Faria, who along with John Perkin and Jim Bickerton represented plaintiffs in the class-action suit.

The settlement, reached Wednesday after two days of talks, was entered into the record today, Faria said.

The date for the Maui concert has not been set, but it will likely be in September or October after Aerosmith wraps up its North America tour, Faria said. The 34-city tour begins June 10 in St. Louis and ends Sept. 16 in Detroit, according to the band's Web site.

The settlement follows a recent $8.1 million judgment against South Korean pop icon Rain and his former management company. A federal court jury in March found them to have committed fraud and breach of contract when they abruptly canceled Rain's Aloha Stadium concert in 2007.

In the Aerosmith case, the suit alleged that the group pulled out of a Sept. 29, 2007, Maui concert in favor of a larger concert in Chicago and a more lucrative private performance for Toyota car dealers at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's Les Murakami Stadium.

The suit, scheduled for trial in May, also claimed that the cancellation cost Maui ticket buyers as a group between $500,000 and $3 million in travel costs, handling fees and other nonrefunded expenses.

Reach Alan Yonan Jr. at ayonan@honoluluadvertiser.com.