News Summary

• 30 state attorneys general sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster for antitrust violations.
• The DOJ reached a settlement with Live Nation during the second week of the trial.
• More than half of the state AGs declared they wanted no part of the settlement and were ready to continue with the trial, may it please the court.
• The case went to the jury last Friday, and yesterday they rendered a verdict: GUILTY!We won!
• …but won’t see prices lowered soon?
• The jury found Ticketmaster overcharged states by $1.72 per ticket, about what the states had estimated.
• The next step is to break up the monopoly, not dictate tix prices: The jury was not asked to decide a total damages or penalty amount — that will ultimately be decided by the judge.
• “It will be an earthquake in the industry in terms of people’s perception in feeling validated,” said Scott Grzenczyk, a lawyer with law firm Girard Sharp.