States’ anti-monopoly case against Live Nation continues Monday

The Live Nation-Ticketmaster trial is back. Dozens of states are expected to present their complaints against the company’s alleged concert industry monopoly starting Monday, following a brief hearing Friday.

The Justice Department and a handful of states have agreed to settlements with the company, but the majority of the 40 plaintiffs, state and district attorneys general, are currently continuing their fight in court. The lobbying states withdrew their motion for a mistrial, filed after the DOJ announced its settlement in court Monday, and came forward with a new outside lawyer to lead their trial team in the absence of federal litigants. The judge also said jurors will be allowed to see internal discussions among Live Nation employees who have bragged about how they are “ripping off” fans, ignoring the company’s opposition.

In a hearing Friday that lasted less than an hour, Judge Arun Subramanian — visibly more cheerful than he was earlier this week when he chastised lawyers for not informing him sooner of an impending settlement — sorted out the logistics of the trial and issued orders on exhibits. In order to take over the case, the now-defunct DOJ trial team continued to work to transfer information the affected states would need at trial, said co-lead counsel for the states, Jonathan Hatch. But there are still some things in the DOJ database that haven’t been transferred yet, he said. At the judge’s request, the DOJ agreed to ensure that access is not interrupted until states and their attorneys get everything they need.

Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota have all signed an agreement similar to the DOJ’s with Live Nation, or are in the process of doing so. South Carolina continues to negotiate with the company and could continue litigation unless the state reaches an agreement on its monetary demands before then. An attorney speaking on behalf of those states said South Carolina has reached an agreement in principle on the settlement’s updated injunction terms, although it’s unclear exactly what they are. That leaves more than 30 state attorneys general still involved in the litigation unless things change before Monday.

The trial is expected to resume with testimony from AEG COO Jay Marciano, who was the last witness to be questioned by a DOJ attorney in the case. Marciano was only halfway through his testimony when court adjourned for the day, so States will likely need to refresh jurors’ memories, after their new trial team introduced themselves. AEG is a competitor to Live Nation-Ticketmaster and a similarly integrated live event ticketing and promotion company.

The judge also allowed several exhibits containing Slack messages between Live Nation employees to be presented to the jury, after the company sought to exclude them. The messages came to light this week after the judge unsealed them following requests from a media group.

The 2022 posts included two then-regional directors for the company’s amphitheater ticketing boasting about how they were “ripping off” fans with incidental fees, such as for parking or VIP access, and ridiculing fans as “stupid” and claiming that Live Nation was “robbing them blind.” Live Nation spokeswoman Emily Wofford described the exchange as that of a “junior employee to friend” and said it “absolutely does not reflect our values ​​or the way we operate.” However, in a brief opposing the motion to exclude cats, the plaintiffs claim that these “junior” employees now hold important positions within the company: one is responsible for ticketing for the arm of Live Nation that operates its theaters, and the other is senior director of ticketing for Live Nation’s Capital Region.

“As this was a private Slack message, executives learned of it when the public did and will review the matter promptly,” Wofford said in a statement. “Our business only works when fans have great experiences, which is why we capped entry fees at arenas at 15% and invested $1 billion over the last 18 months in venues and fan amenities across the United States.”

Live Nation had sought to prevent the exhibits from being presented to the jury, with its lawyers arguing that they were simply “informal Slack messages” unrelated to the case. Government lawyers argued that these messages represented “internal, candid messages” that refuted the company’s claim that it invests in amphitheaters to give fans and artists a wide choice of places to attend a concert. The judge acknowledged that Live Nation had “opened the door” to this kind of evidence by discussing the quality of the fan experience at its venues in its opening statement.

Either way, the show will continue on Monday morning.