LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) A Los Angeles judge has denied AEG’s attempt to dismiss Ozzy Osbourne’s class action anti-trust lawsuit.
Los Angeles federal judge Dale Fischer said in a written order that Osbourne may have a legitimate argument that AEG and others are coercing the rocker and possibly other artists with anti-competitive behavior, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Osbourne has sued Anschutz Entertainment Group on behalf of other artists accusing the promotion company of “block booking,” that it has contracts forcing artists to play Los Angeles’s Staples Center if they want to play AEG’s other flagship building, The O2 in London. Also, AEG must be the promoter of the show at the Staples Center, rather than Osbourne’s promoter, Live Nation.
AEG has argued that Osbourne was not technically bound by any agreement to play Staples when he toured Los Angeles.
“That Ozzy could possibly have dropped his promoter in order to avoid booking the Staples Center doesn’t make the Staples Center requirement non-coercive,” Fischer wrote, according to the Journal “Presumably, Ozzy chose to promote his concerts through Live Nation for an economically valid reason, just as he has chosen to play London and Los Angeles for a reason. That Ozzy might have another possible way out of the tie besides not playing London or Los Angeles doesn’t necessarily make AEG’s conduct non-coercive.”
AEG and Live Nation, alongside Azoff MSG Entertainment, have traded accusations of using block-booking tactics.
