Live Nation ticket buyers sue for $5 billion following US Department of Justice case

Live Nation and its Ticketmaster unit were hit by the first of a likely wave of new consumer antitrust lawsuits after the U.S. government and states sued both companies on Thursday.

The first government-based consumer class action lawsuit was filed later Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, seeking $5 billion in damages on behalf of potentially millions of ticket buyers.

The cases accuse Live Nation of exercising monopoly control over the live events industry, threatening properties that partner with rivals and destroying competitors.

Consumer lawsuits involving U.S. or state attorney general lawsuits can quickly accumulate and put additional legal pressure on companies.

Lawyers for the class action plaintiffs at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and Israel David did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Thursday, Live Nation called the government’s lawsuit “baseless” and said the live events market is “more competitive than ever.”

Lawyers who reviewed the government’s complaint said Live Nation could base its defense in part on the Justice Department’s decision to sign a deal to acquire Ticketmaster from Live Nation more than a decade ago.

Eric Enson of Crowell & Moring, an antitrust lawyer who is not involved in the lawsuit, said the government’s case raised thorny “questions of law and fact about whether severance is a legally permissible remedy.”

The case could resonate with consumers who have long complained about ticket prices, he said, “but proving antitrust cases in a jury can be difficult.”

However, antitrust lawyer Rebecca Allensworth of Vanderbilt University said that while public opinion about Live Nation is legally irrelevant, “appearances matter in cases, especially when they are decided by juries.”

The Justice Department said the previous case involved a different antitrust law and that Live Nation has since exhibited “more expansive forms” of anticompetitive behavior.

(Reporting by Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Nick Zieminski)