SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 4– The United States versus Live Nation trial began
on March 2 with jury selection, before U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York Judge Arun
Subramanian. Then after a week of testimony it
went on pause, and the DOJ and several states settled with
Live Nation.
Inner City Press submitted a
Freedom of Information Act requests to US DOJ on March 27,
2026, and also to states including Washington State (see
below).
DOJ granted expedited
processing, then asked Inner City Press to narrow its
request, which it did.
But just after the jury verdict that
Live Nation is a monopolist, DOJ denied the FOIA request
in full. Inner City Press immediately appeal - and that
was denied.
On May 27, Inner City Press filed a FOIA
lawsuit in SDNY, complaint on CourtListener here.
It has been deemed related to the Just Subramanian trial
case, and DOJ Antitrust Division has filed a notice of
appearance, and a boilerplate answer.
On August 4, the states' post-trial
discovery was denied without prejudice: "ORDER denying
without prejudice Letter Motion for Discovery. The states'
request for discovery relating to the Tunney Act
proceeding is DENIED without prejudice. While the states
certainly may seek relevant and proportional discovery as
to the United States' settlement with Live Nation, the
Court has no actual requests for testimony or documents to
review, and so the precise scope of what the states are
asking for is unclear. The states should prepare narrow
and targeted requests for information, send those to the
United States and Live Nation, and meet and confer as to
whether some or all the discovery can be agreed upon. If
not, then the Court will review any disputed requests in a
subsequent application. The states should make sure their
requests are narrow and targeted, and the United States
and Live Nation should entertain these requests in good
faith, with an understanding that the Court, having
reviewed the statute and relevant authorities, believes
that requests for discovery in this context are cognizable
if within reasonable bounds. The Clerk of Court is
respectfully requested to terminate Dkt. 1558. (Signed by
Judge Arun Subramanian on 8/4/2026)."
While awaiting the Federal / DOJ
FOIA case heating up, Oregon among others has provided
some documents while withholding others (and demanding
absurd amounts of money) -
Public records obtained by Inner City Press
from the Oregon Department of Justice under a public
records request reveal a stream of consumer complaints
about Ticketmaster dating to the height of the COVID
pandemic — complaints of refunds promised and never paid,
tickets impossible to download, and in one case, tickets
stolen from a consumer while she was hospitalized, with
Ticketmaster doing nothing about it. The complaints, filed
with Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum's Consumer Protection
Division, span 2020 through 2022.
One Oregon consumer had a $704.25 refund
approved by Ticketmaster on May 13, 2020 — but by August
17, 2020, Ticketmaster's automated system was telling her
the "refund window has passed" and providing no way to
reach a human being. A Portland-area consumer bought
tickets to a concert, received several Ticketmaster
confirmation emails, but could never find the actual
tickets on her account. Ticketmaster, she told the AG, had
no help line and its support email provided no remedy. She
was charged and received nothing. A third Oregon consumer
bought tickets for a Death Cab for Cutie concert in Bend,
Oregon, scheduled for September 6, 2021. The day of the
event, the concert was cancelled. Ticketmaster sent an
email saying a refund was coming. Whether it arrived is
not reflected in the AG records. Nancy Pierce of Portland,
over 65 years old, could not use mobile-only tickets
Ticketmaster issued for a July 2022 transaction — she
asked for printable or mailed tickets instead, was
refused, then asked for a refund of her $716.90. Refused
again. "THEY REFUSED TO REFUND!!! I am due a refund for
unusable tickets!!!!! They are a scam!" she wrote to the
AG.
And perhaps most striking: one Oregon
consumer went into the hospital in July of an unstated
year, received a Ticketmaster email while hospitalized
saying her tickets were available to claim — and someone
else claimed them without her consent. Ticketmaster's
response was to do nothing. Oregon joined the federal
antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster in
2024. It had years of these complaints already on file.
The AG's FOIA office initially demanded $32,520 for 81,392
emails in response to Inner City Press's broader records
request — a fee dispute Inner City Press has challenged
and appealed. What the 81,392 emails contain, and whether
they show a pattern of exactly the kind of conduct
described in these eight individual complaint files,
remains the subject of that ongoing dispute
March 18 extra on "war room(s)" on X for
Subscribers here
and Substack here
On March 6, Inner City
Press was in the courtroom at 8:30 am, and spoke to push
for further unsealing, including of demonstratives. See
new book, "TicketMonster: US v Live Nation 1," ebook,
audiobook and paperback here.
The case is United States of America et al v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. et al., 24-cv-3973 (Subramanian)
