Live Nation, Ticketmaster must face sprawling class action over prices
A judge ruled Live Nation and Ticketmaster must face a class action lawsuit alleging they overcharged customers for concert tickets.Summary
A federal judge in California ruled on Friday that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster must face a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of millions of Americans. The lawsuit alleges the companies overcharged customers for events at major concert venues across the country. Judge George Wu determined the plaintiffs met the requirements to expand their suit into a class action, seeking damages for over 400 million tickets purchased since 2010.
Live Nation had argued against class certification, claiming individualized issues with ticket sales at 1,000 venues would make a single trial impossible, and that venues, not Ticketmaster, set the fees. However, the court disagreed. The lawsuit accuses Live Nation of monopolizing ticketing services, leading to artificially high prices in violation of antitrust law, allegations the company denies.
The U.S. Supreme Court previously declined to move the case to private arbitration. Live Nation is also facing other antitrust lawsuits, including one filed by the U.S. Justice Department and a group of states, regarding its ticketing practices, which the company also denies any wrongdoing in.
(Source：CNBC)