Live Nation Bid for Arbitration Fails in Price-Gouging Appeal

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its Ticketmaster LLC unit lost a bid to compel arbitration in a suit alleging the companies charged inflated ticket fees, as the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a Monday opinion held that an arbitration clause requiring customer claims to go through provider New Era ADR Inc. was unconscionable and unenforceable under California law. Terms related to any ticket purchase disputes on Ticketmaster’s website were also “affirmatively misleading,” the appellate court said.

The arbitration rules are so “dense, convoluted and internally contradictory to be ...