A federal judge ruled that Taylor Swift fans can move forward with most of their lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster over the 2022 ticket sale for the ‘Eras Tour.’
In 2022, a group of Taylor Swift fans, referred to as Swifties, sued the ticketing giant after demand outstripped supply during the presale for the Eras tour, ticketed by Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster, and promoted by rival AEG.
The lawsuit claimed that, “millions of fans waited up to eight hours and were unable to purchase tickets as a result of insufficient ticket releases”.
Ticketmaster apologized to Swift and her fans in a blog post published in November 2022, which was originally deleted, and then republished. The platform noted in the post that over 3.5 million people pre-registered for Taylor Swift tickets, which it said was “the largest registration in history.”
“While the Court is once again ‘left to guess’ the terms of the contract, the Court will allow [Swift fans] one last opportunity.”
George Wu, US DIstrict Judge
On November 21, US District Judge George Wu denied Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s motion to dismiss some claims in the lawsuit, while dismissing fraud, negligent misrepresentation and negligence claims without allowing further amendments. He granted the fans’ chance to revise their breach of contract allegations.
Judge Wu wrote: “While the Court is once again ‘left to guess’ the terms of the contract, the Court will allow [Swift fans] one last opportunity.”
The ruling came after oral arguments on Live Nation’s motion to dismiss the fourth amended complaint. Wu adopted a tentative ruling issued earlier as his final decision, according to a court filing, which you can read here.
Wu’s decision to dismiss the fraud claims centered on whether Live Nation made promises it never intended to keep.
The judge cited a recent Ninth Circuit case involving AT&T Mobility, where a customer lost $24 million in cryptocurrency after hackers bypassed security measures the phone carrier had promised.
The appeals court ruled that even if AT&T knew its security could be evaded, that didn’t prove the company never intended to implement the protections. “Making ‘a promise with an honest but unreasonable intent to perform is wholly different from making one with no intent to perform’ and thus cannot be ‘false,’” Wu wrote, quoting the Ninth Circuit.
“Plaintiffs have failed to sufficiently allege that Defendants made promises with no intent to perform. Plaintiffs’ reliance on the aftermath of the presales cannot support a plausible fraud theory.”
George Wu, US DIstrict Judge
Referring to that reasoning, Wu said the Swifties failed to show Live Nation and Ticketmaster made promises with no intent to follow through.
“Plaintiffs have failed to sufficiently allege that Defendants made promises with no intent to perform. Plaintiffs’ reliance on the aftermath of the presales cannot support a plausible fraud theory,” Wu wrote.
The fourth amended complaint also lacked allegations suggesting defendants had no reasonable grounds for believing their statements were true when made.
Wu added: “As such, the Court still finds dismissal of both the fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims appropriate.”
“In dismissing these same claims from the Third Amended Complaint, the Court had recommended that Plaintiffs ‘clearly separate out each alleged misrepresentation, followed (or joined) immediately by the ‘who, what, when, where and how’ details that must accompany the allegation, along with an explanation for how the statement/representation was misleading/false when made.’”
Speaking to Reuters, Jennifer Kinder, a lawyer for the fans, said the plaintiffs were “excited to move closer to our day in court.”
Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour has become the first tour in history to generate gross revenues of over $1 billion, according to Pollstar.
Disney+ announced in October that it will stream two Taylor Swift projects in December focused on the Eras Tour, a year after the concert series wrapped up as the highest-grossing concert tour in history with $2.08 billion in ticket sales.
The streaming platform secured rights to a six-part docuseries and a complete concert film, both premiering December 12.
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