Live Nation Denied Bid to Compel Arbitration in Ticket Fee Suit

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its Ticketmaster LLC unit were denied a motion to compel arbitration in an antitrust case alleging the companies charged inflated fees for tickets bought online.

The defendants’ arbitration clause requiring customers to go through provider New Era ADR Inc. is “unconscionable,” Judge George Wu of the US District Court for the Central District of California said in a Thursday ruling denying Live Nation’s motion.

Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation in 2010. The companies in 2021 updated their terms of use to select New Era to handle consumers’ claims sent to arbitration, a change that plaintiffs ...