Ticketmaster Class Action Alleges Inflated Ticket Prices

A class action lawsuit recently removed to federal court claims that Ticketmaster unlawfully contracts with scalpers and profits from the practice in violation of California law.

Plaintiffs Mahmoud Ameri and Erin Ouborg say they both purchased tickets through Ticketmaster, and were financially injured by Ticketmaster’s practice of facilitating the resale of tickets. 

The customers say that Ticketmaster offers bulk sales of tickets on its website to professional resellers. Allegedly, the tickets are then resold at an inflated price.

Ameri and Ouborg claim that Ticketmaster receives double commissions for each ticket — one commission on the sale of the tickets to resellers, and another commission on the resale of the same tickets on secondary exchanges.

The plaintiffs say that without intervention from the court, they could not trust that Ticketmaster would not continue its allegedly unlawful practice.

According to the Ticketmaster class action, Ticketmaster and resellers work together to artificially inflate ticket prices for millions of consumers.

Allegedly, Ticketmaster and its resellers “use Ticketmaster’s dominance of the primary ticket sale market to suppress and prevent competition in the resale, or secondary, market.”

Ameri and Ouborg note that in recent years, ticket resellers or scalpers have used advances in technology to buy and sell tickets in large numbers, using software applications called “bots.” Allegedly, the tickets that are purchased in bulk in the primary market are then resold on the internet.

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit argues that publicly, Ticketmaster denounces scalping as harmful to consumers and states that it prohibits bulk purchases by resellers. However, this is reportedly contrary to the company’s true behaviors.

Allegedly, not only does Ticketmaster enter into agreements with the resellers, but they provide computer programs and support for the automated resale of the tickets.

The Ticketmaster class action claims the company encourages resellers to use fake identities and automated technologies to purchase the tickets, though Ticketmaster bans these practices in its terms of service.

The ticket resale class action lawsuit asserts that Ticketmaster uses TradeDesk, which Ameri and Ouborg say is a “computerized system secretly created by Ticketmaster for professional scalpers.”

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit goes on to say that Ticketmaster does not disclose its use of TradeDesk to consumers, and does not disclose the fact that it coordinates with resellers.

Ameri and Ouborg argue that Ticketmaster’s conduct injures consumers by hiking ticket prices and violates California Business and Professions Code, as well as the Cartwright Act.

They argue that these violations come in the form of entering into and engaging in unlawful contract, combination, and conspiracy.

Ameri and Ouborg are represented by Brent A. Robinson of Aiman-Smith & Marcy.

The Ticketmaster Ticket Resale Class Action Lawsuit is Mahmoud Ameri, et al. v. Ticketmaster LLC, Case No. 4:19-cv-02642-DMR, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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