Jimmy Buffett Cleared in Negligence Lawsuit Over Accident That Left Trucker Severely Injured

Jimmy Buffett has been cleared in a negligence lawsuit over an accident that left a trucker severely injured.

According to The Blast, Buffett was dismissed from the suit by the truck driver, who also released his company Margaritaville as well.

The incident that spawned the lawsuit took place in 2016 when Mary Kay Puckett, the driver, claimed to have been injured while working for Buffet’s I Don’t Know Tour.

Puckett claimed that her job was simply to transport the set pieces, not unload them, as she stated she was not trained to do so. However, she went on to allege that at one show in particular, a member of the crew verbally accosted her until she agreed to begin unloading, at which time some equipment that was not properly put away fell and landed on her.

She filed the lawsuit after claiming to have suffered “severe bodily injuries and disfigurement.” She initially included Buffett and Margaritaville in the suit, accusing the singer “of being negligent in security precautions and with training the employees.”

While Puckett has since released Buffett and his company, she is reportedly still seeking unspecified damages from Live Nation and MGM.

Being dropped from the lawsuit is likely good news for Buffett, who debuted his Broadway show Escape to Margaritaville earlier this year. The show is based on his music, as evident by the title, and Buffett oversaw the entire thing himself.

According to NPR, it was important to Buffett that fans of music be the ones to help him craft the project, as he didn’t think that traditional Broadway composers and writers would be the right fit for what he wanted to do.

“I had to have people that understood the culture,” he told the outlet. “There were great writers who write for Broadway exclusively that really were interesting and I like their work, but none of them were real Parrotheads.”

Parrotheads is the term used to describe the most dedicated fans of Buffett’s “beach bum” style music, which he believes resonates with those feeling a “need to get away.”

“It’s fun, and [it’s] getting away from the rigors of real life,” he added. “These days, I think we need it more than ever.”

Regarding what the future holds for 71-year-old Buffett, the singer said that he has some great influences keeping him hopeful. “I’m looking up the road and at 75 you got Sir Paul [McCartney] and Mick [Jagger] and then at 80 you got Willie [Nelson], and at 91, Tony Bennett,” he shared. “So I’m not going anywhere, except up that road as long as I can.”

Neither Buffet nor representatives for Margaritaville appear to have commented publicly on the new lawsuit development.