Yet another Taylor Swift fan has filed a lawsuit against Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster.
Billboard reports that the class-action lawsuit was filed in California federal court by Michelle Sterioff. It accuses Live Nation and Ticketmaster of “intentionally and purposefully” misleading “millions of fans into believing” that bots and scalpers would be prevented from participating in the Taylor Swift Eras Tour presale.
The suit also accuses the companies of violating federal antitrust and unfair competition laws. It claims that the two companies have a monopoly when it comes to ticket sales and have used their power “in a predatory, exclusionary, and anti-competitive manner.”
In the suit, Sterioff says she registered for the presale, but wasn’t able to get a ticket. After Ticketmaster canceled the public sale, Sterioff says, she had to buy tickets on the secondary market. But since Ticketmaster doesn’t let fans resell tickets unless they do it through its own secondary ticketing platform, the amount she paid was subject to the company’s “monopolistic prices.”
Sterioff’s suit also accuses the companies of intentional misrepresentation and violation of California’s False Advertising Law. She’s asking for legal fees, punitive damages and more.
Members of Congress have already announced they’ll be holding a hearing to look into the concert ticket industry. There have also been reports that even before the Taylor mess, the Justice Department was examining whether or not the companies constitute an illegal monopoly.
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