Live Nation has been granted favorable summary judgements in two anti-trust class action litigations that had been brought against the company when they were still part of Clear Channel.
The allegations at the center of the lawsuit, which hearken back to the period from 2001 to 2005, claim that the promoter had harmed consumers and engaged in anti-competitive behavior and sought more than $100 million in damages from the promoter.
In the judgements, a Los Angeles federal judge found for Live Nation in that Owen Phillips of the University of Wyoming, the primary expert witness for the plaintiff, had failed to properly define a relevant market, a crucial step in anti-trust cases. The judge also found that Phillips had "no expertise" in rock music, leading to a faulty methodological approach in his assessment.
The ruling also calls into question the class status of the suit and attorneys for both sides now have three weeks to stipulate what should happen in the remaining 20 regional suits that compose the multidistrict litigation.
"We are extremely pleased with the judge’s ruling in these cases, which validates our long-standing belief that they are without merit," said Michael Rapino, Chief Executive Officer of Live Nation Entertainment. "We’ve spent a considerable amount of time and money to prove that we’re right in this litigation. We refused to be held hostage by frivolous class action lawsuits, and now we’ve been vindicated. At this point, we’re looking forward to putting these lawsuits behind us and continuing to focus on innovating the live music experience for artists and fans." – via CelebrityAccess
