Ticketmaster Class Action Says Shortage of Tickets Increases Pricing

According to a recent class action lawsuit, Ticketmaster allows the resale of tickets to artificially inflate ticket prices which benefits the company.

Plaintiffs Victoria Messing and Scott Forschein filed their class action against Ticketmaster LLC and Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the service’s owner, alleging that verified resale programs used by Ticketmaster drive up the prices of tickets artificially.

Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket supplier and holds a “near monopoly on major event seating in North America and the United Kingdom.”

Recently, Ticketmaster implemented their new resale program through TradeDesk, an inventory management system for scalpers. Scalpers are individuals who purchase large quantities of tickets and distribute them for resale.

The Ticketmaster class action claims that the ticket distributer is aware that many scalpers are limiting ticket quantities per person per event. The company is allegedly providing a reduction in commission fee for this behavior, which creates a ticket shortage and inflates prices.

Although this practice hurts consumers, Ticketmaster allegedly uses these tactics to profit and “gain its share of the lucrative ticket resale industry.”

In September 2018, CBC News released an article detailing the deceptive practices of Ticketmaster. In the seven months leading up to a Bruno Mars concert, CBC allegedly monitored Ticketmaster’s website and tracked its seats and prices. They concluded that “Ticketmaster doesn’t list every seat when a sale begins; hikes prices mid-sale; and collects fees twice on tickets scalped on its site.”

The Ticketmaster class action alleges that these practices result in consumers paying a higher price for initial tickets which sell out fast. After the initial tickets are sold out, consumers are forced to purchase tickets through resale which generate further profits for Ticketmaster.

“As the gatekeeper to almost all of this country’s live performances, Ticketmaster has an obligation to deter scalping activity and instead they are encouraging it for their own monetary benefit. As a result, Plaintiff and the Class suffer by paying too much for ticket prices,” the Ticketmaster class action claims.

Ticketmaster faces a similar class action from an Illinois man alleging that the company “receives a second, ‘double-dip’ commission” by taking advantage of resale tactics.

Plaintiffs seek to represent a Class of consumers who purchased a verified resale ticket from a professional reseller using Ticketmaster’s resale partner program and/or TradeDesk. Messing also seeks to represent a subclass of the same consumers in Florida while Forschein seeks to represent a subclass of the same consumers in the state of New York.

The Ticketmaster class action seeks Class certification, actual damages, compensatory damages, consequential damages, statutory damages, penalties, restitution, disgorgement, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Plaintiffs are represented by David S. Casey Jr., Gayle M. Blatt, Jeremy Robinson, Wendy M. Behan, Angela Jae Chun, and Alyssa Williams of Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield LLP; and Patrice L. Bishop and Melissa R. Emert of Stull Stull & Brody.

The Ticketmaster Artificially High Ticket Prices Class Action Lawsuit is Messing, et al. v. Ticketmaster LLC, et al., Case No. 2:18-cv-09386, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.