By Jody Godoy
NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) – A judge in Manhattan told Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation on Tuesday to negotiate with a group of U.S. states accusing the live entertainment conglomerate of anticompetitive conduct, a day after the U.S. Department of Justice settled its claims.
Scrutiny of the concert giant’s business practices and efforts to recoup money for fans have brought together U.S. states on the political left and right. The mid-trial DOJ settlement has left states including New York, California, Texas and Tennessee scrambling to prepare to take over the case, where the DOJ had taken the lead.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said he would not yet grant a request by the states to end the trial, telling the states and Live Nation to sit down and discuss a potential deal.
Some of the states are seeking triple damages on behalf of their residents. Live Nation has said it is willing to pay up to $280 million to settle with the 39 states plus Washington, D.C. that sued. A handful of Republican-led states have indicated they would join the DOJ deal.
Live Nation executive Dan Wall said in court on Monday that he does not think it would be possible to strike a deal with the remaining states within a week.
“The probability of us resolving this is about zero,” Wall said.
“Not with that attitude,” said the judge.
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino attended the hearing on Monday, where the judge criticized the parties for failing to quickly tell the court a settlement had been reached last week. He left court shortly after the hearing concluded.
The DOJ settlement involves Live Nation agreeing not to retaliate against venues that opt not to use Ticketmaster and offering technology that venues could use to distribute tickets through other platforms.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York, editing by Deepa Babington)
