About a dozen people who say they were injured by stray fireworks during the Stadium of Fire’s 2024 show are suing America’s Freedom Festival, the state of Utah, Provo City, Utah County, Brigham Young University and several other groups and companies, according to court documents filed this week.

Attorneys filed two lawsuits, one in state court on behalf of Utahns (which names the city, county, state and university among the defendants) and one in federal court on behalf of plaintiffs who were Nevadans at the time of the episode.

The federal case does not name the city, county, state or university. It instead lists only the festival and a list of associates, including a fireworks company, as defendants.

Both lawsuits stem from the 2024 show at LaVell Edwards Stadium after fireworks set off during a military flyover malfunctioned.

“During the course of the fireworks display, the subject firework catastrophically failed and, rather than functioning as intended, it exploded within or near its housing, causing multiple projectiles to discharge horizontally and into the assembled spectators instead of vertically into the air,” says the lawsuit filed in state court. “As a direct result of the malfunction, burning projectiles, explosive effects, debris, and other components of the subject firework entered the spectator areas of LaVell Edwards Stadium, striking numerous individuals.”

The plaintiffs, the court document asserts, “sustained serious physical, mental, and other injuries, and other damages.”

Attorneys argue that the defendants should have known the fireworks posed a risk to attendees and are seeking $300,000 for each plaintiff named in the state court suit.

Trevor Berrett, an attorney with Provo-based Macarthur, Heder and Metler who represents the plaintiffs who filed in state court, declined to comment on the case in a Friday email to The Salt Lake Tribune.

A spokesperson for Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said the state has no comment on the suit. Representatives for the Stadium of Fire, Provo, Utah County, BYU and a Chinese fireworks company also did not respond to a request for comment .

Plaintiffs in the federal case are seeking $75,000 apiece for past and future medical expenses and for “past and future pain and suffering,” as well as, among other things, punitive damages and lost wages.

The attorney representing the plaintiffs in federal court did not respond to a Tribune request for comment.

The Stadium of Fire acknowledged in 2025 that self-propelled whistler firecrackers used in the 2024 display injured at least 27 people and announced they would no longer be using them in the show. They also said they hired a different fireworks company and provided Provo with a complete list of fireworks used in the show.

Investigators told The Tribune last year that the accident occurred when a box containing multiple tubes of fireworks malfunctioned and exploded about six or seven shots into the series, which then moved the surrounding stabilizing sandbags and sent the whistler rockets into the crowd.

Even if they had not malfunctioned, Provo’s fire marshal said last year, those types of fireworks should not have been placed so close to the crowd.