LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – The lead “Swiftie” in the federal class-action lawsuit against Live Nation (LN) – launched due to the Taylor Swift ‘Eras Tour’ on-sale disaster has been able to “Shake It Off” as the suit has now been dropped.
Michelle Sterloff filed in court on December 12 asking for a voluntary dismissal, almost a year after the claim was filed in the United States District Court for Central California.
According to the now-dismissed lawsuit, Sterloff alleged that Ticketmaster (TM) violated several federal anti-trust and competition laws and intentionally interfered with and misled fans ahead of the Eras Tour on-sale dates. At the time, Sterloff’s lawyers stated that Live Nation was a “monopoly” that had “knowingly misled millions of fans.”
In August, the two sides agreed to put a “hold” on the case until the end of January so they could engage in “ongoing settlement discussions.” It is unknown if a settlement was reached.
Sterloff’s case was one of two major class action lawsuits against LN. The other class action was filed by a passionate and vocal fan named Julie Barfuss (and two dozen other upset fans). That case remains pending in California federal court. In her complaint, Barfuss claimed LN had allowed the kind of mass-scalping that caused so many issues during the tour pre-sale.
“Ticketmaster has stated that it has taken steps to address this issue, but in reality, has taken steps to make additional profit from the scalped tickets,” Barfuss’ lawyer wrote. “Instead of competition, Ticketmaster has conspired with stadiums to force fans to buy more expensive tickets that Ticketmaster gets additional fees from every time the tickets are resold.”
CelebrityAccess has contacted all parties for comment; none have been received as of press time.
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Original Story Below – Published: 12/2/2022
LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – Taylor Swift’s “Swifties” are fueling the “Bad Blood” with ticketing giant Ticketmaster (TM) [owned by Live Nation (LN)]. TMZ is reporting a couple of dozen fans are suing the company for fraud, price fixing, and anti-trust violations, even going as far as alleging “intentional deception,” claiming TM allowed bots and scalpers access to the tickets first. They’re suing for “ill-gotten gains” the company gained during the pre-sale and are asking the courts to give TM a civil fine of $2,500 for each violation. TM doesn’t seem to be “Out of the Woods” yet.
On the morning of November 15, Swifties from high and low thought, “Today Was a Fairytale,” as they signed onto TM’s website for The Eras Tour pre-sale. However, the demand essentially broke TM’s platform, and as a result, the general on-sale never even took place. Swifties called TM “Mean” refused to accept their (now deleted) public statement of apology and made “Sparks Fly” after filing suit in Los Angeles County, where LN is located. Will this be the “End Game” for TM?
According to numerous reports, TM planned for nearly 2 million fans on pre-sale day, but over 13 million logged on. The plaintiff’s alleged TM was supposed to send out “Verified Fan” pre-sale codes the day before (November 14), but they were never received. All some fans got was a “Blank Space,” as some claim they never even reached the wait queue for the chance to make a purchase.
TM’s apology stated in part, “We strive to make ticket buying as easy as possible for fans, but that hasn’t been the case for many people trying to buy tickets for Taylor Swift / The Eras Tour. First, we want to apologize to Taylor and all of her fans – especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets.”
Unable to “Shake It Off,” Ms. Swift responded via her social media, saying she was “assured” TM could handle the high demand for tickets and that even though she’s happy 2.4 million fans did get tickets, “It really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.”
Various organizations have long scrutinized TM over the years for being a monopoly within the ticketing sector. “I Knew You Were Trouble” is what the US Department of Justice must have been saying as it launched an anti-trust investigation into the owner of TM, Live Nation Entertainment.
It appears that Swift’s fans and TM “Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
