Live Nation Class Action Lawsuit Filed over Springsteen Ticket Markup

Concert ticket promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc. was hit with a class action lawsuit by a concert goer who accused the company of releasing large blocks of tickets to secondary ticket brokers who in turn sold tickets to The Boss’ concerts that were well over face value.

According to the class action lawsuit, Bruce Springsteen’s 2012 Wrecking Ball tour was scheduled for five shows in New Jersey, “on April 3, 2012 and April 4, 2012 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey and on September 19, 2012, September 21, 2012, and September 22, 2012 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.” Lead plaintiff Marilyn Forst alleged that Live Nation violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act when it withheld more than 5 percent of the tickets available for the concert tour and then released the tickets to secondary brokers, who then sold the tickets for more than face value.

Forst claims she bought two tickets to one of the Springsteen concerts in July of 2012, paying $225 per ticket plus an additional $56.95 service fee. Forst alleges that the amount she paid was well in excess of the face value of the tickets. In her class action lawsuit, Forst claims to represent those who paid for and also who could not afford to go to the concert because of the alleged mark-up. She also alleges that Live Nation was unjustly enriched by the deal.

In the class action lawsuit, Forst alleges “Defendants withheld more than 5% of tickets to the Concerts from sale to the general public,” and “Defendants’ acts and omissions allowed the Defendants to gain millions of dollars in profits that would not have been gained, but for Defendants’ acts and omissions.” She claims that the 2001 law, the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, was “a law aimed at the practice of charging excessive premiums in excess of the price of the tickets,” and, “[t]he bill also prohibited the practice of the withholding of more than five percent (5%) of the available seating from sale to the public for any event. The sponsors of the Bill envisioned penalties to include the remedies of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.”

The Springsteen ticket markup class action lawsuit alleges that Live Nation violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, and claims the Live Nations was unjustly enriched. The complaint indicates that the plaintiff is seeking monetary damages, including all relief available under the Consumer Fraud Act, treble damages, compensatory damages, interest, attorneys’ fees and costs, as well as a declaratory relief that Defendant violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, and also injunctive relief.

Forst is represented by Bruce H. Nagel of Nagel Rice LLP.

The Live Nation Springsteen Ticket Markup Class Action Lawsuit is Marilyn Forst v. Live Nation Entertainment Inc., et. al., Case No.3:14-cv-02452, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.