The first lawsuit has been filed over the Indiana State Fair stage collapse that killed six people last week, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Injury attorney Kenneth J Allen has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of 42-year-old Tammy VanDam, who was of one of the victims, contending that flimsy stage construction and failure to heed warnings of “severe thunder storms” lead directly to the tragedy.

His lawsuit alleges that organisers “did not reasonably exercise due care in the design, set-up, configuration, layout, and construction of the concert stage area”.

It also maintains that the stage was overloaded with equipment and failed to meet the safety guidelines outlined by Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Indiana State Fair officials declined to comment, but the Indianapolis Star newspaper reported that two outside firms have been hired to investigate why the stage collapsed.

Watch the press conference held by the Indiana State Fair here: