Clear Channel

In re Live Concert Antitrust Litigation

Court: United States District Court for the Central District of California

Case No: MDL No. 1745

Wexler Wallace is Co-Lead Counsel for Plaintiff ticket buyers who charge media conglomerate Clear Channel (now known as Live Nation) with using its monopoly to dominate the concert promotion industry. Plaintiffs allege that Clear Channel’s anticompetitive conduct wrongfully increased the cost of tickets customers purchased for live rock concerts.

Plaintiffs filed class action lawsuits against Clear Channel in 22 different regional markets. All the cases are now before Judge Stephen V. Wilson in federal court in Los Angeles for pretrial proceedings.

The Allegations

The Complaint alleges that Clear Channel engaged in the following conduct to maintain its monopoly in the market for rock concerts:

Limiting radio airplay of artists who refuse to use Clear Channel’s concert promotion services;
Denying promotional air-time to artists who use competing promoters;
Refusing to accept advertising by other concert promoters, charging excessive fees for such advertising, or limiting such advertising to undesirable time slots;
Excluding concerts promoted by competitors from radio updates of upcoming concerts; and
Inflating fees paid to artists, in some cases by more than 100% of gross sales, in order to exclude competitors from the market.

Through these anticompetitive acts, Clear Channel has stifled competition in the live rock concert promotion industry, resulting in Clear Channel’s ability to charge supra-competitive prices for rock concert tickets.

Class Certification

On October 22, 2007, Judge Wilson issued a 136-page opinion certifying a class of ticket buyers to Clear Channel rock concerts and denying Clear Channel's motion for judgment on the pleadings. The Court's order certified classes of ticket buyers in the Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York and Denver regions. These five regional markets were used as "template" markets during the class certification stage. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to take Clear Channel’s petition appealing that decision. Clear Channel has asked Judge Wilson to reconsider the class decision; that motion is pending. In the meantime, the Court has stayed the case until the Ninth Circuit issues an opinion in Dukes v. Wal-Mart, an appeal of a class certification decision in a gender discrimination case.

Am I a class member?

The Class in this matter is defined as: “All persons who purchased tickets to any live rock concert [in the appropriate region] from any of the Defendants or their affiliates or predecessors or agents during the period from June 19, 1998 to the present.”

You do not need to contact us to be included as a class member in this matter. However, if you would like to speak with an attorney about the case, please complete our Online Form.

Status

On October 22, 2007, the district court certified five "template" classes of purchasers of tickets to live rock concerts promoted by Clear Channel. Thereafter, on February 15, 2008, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Clear Channel's petition to appeal that decision. On February 20, 2008, Clear Channel requested Judge Wilson to reconsider his class certification order. That motion is still pending. In the meantime, the Court has stayed the case pending interpretation of the Ninth Circuit’s recent opinion in Dukes v. Wal-Mart, an appeal of a class certification decision in another case.