Live Nation, Ticketmaster must face sprawling class action over prices

In this May 11, 2009, file photo, a Ticketmaster advertisement is posted at a Ticketmaster box office in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

WASHINGTON - A federal judge in California ruled on Friday that Live Nation LYV.N and its subsidiary Ticketmaster must face a class action on behalf of millions of Americans for allegedly overcharging them for events at major concert venues across the country.

U.S. District Judge George Wu in Los Angeles ruled that the plaintiffs met the criteria to expand their lawsuit into a class action seeking 15 years of alleged damages tied to the purchase of more than 400 million tickets.

Live Nation had urged Wu to deny certifying the lawsuit as a class action. The company and attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The class covers consumers who bought tickets directly from Ticketmaster or a Live Nation affiliate for events at major venues since 2010.

Beverly Hills, California-based Live Nation was accused in the 2022 lawsuit of monopolizing ticketing services, allowing the company to charge artificially high prices in violation of antitrust law.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster have denied any wrongdoing.

In their opposition to class certification, Live Nation and Ticketmaster told Wu that individualized issues involving tickets sold for 1,000 venues made it impossible to hold a single trial on the plaintiffs’ allegations.

Live Nation said the venues, not Ticketmaster, set fees paid by fans, often on a show-by-show basis.

The U.S. Supreme Court in October declined to hear a bid by Live Nation and Ticketmaster to move the lawsuit out of federal court and into private arbitration.

Live Nation faces other antitrust lawsuits over its ticketing practices, including an antitrust action filed in federal court in Manhattan by the U.S. Justice Department and a group of states. The company has denied any wrongdoing in that case.

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Matthew Lewis)