CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) – A Chicago federal judge won’t hear a proposed class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation over its reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled March 10 that Live Nation’s terms of service explicitly explain an arbitration clause that prevents the kind of dispute filed by plaintiff John Tezak from going to court.
Tezak said Ticketmaster held users’ money indefinitely after shows were cancelled during the coronavirus outbreak in 2020.
The terms on the company’s website included:
“ANY DISPUTE OR CLAIM RELATING IN ANY WAY TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE, OR TO PRODUCTS OR SERVICES SOLD, DISTRIBUTED, ISSUED, OR SERVICED BY US OR THROUGH US, WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION, RATHER THAN IN COURT.”
Tezak’s lawyers at Liddle & Dubin in Detroit argued the terms do not establish clear and unmistakable evidence that they delegated a threshold arbitrability question to the arbitrator.
“This unambiguous language meets the requisite ‘clear and unmistakable’ standard,” Coleman wrote. “Tezak’s arguments based on Illinois’ resale statute and the similar Terms of Use language that contain Illinois-specific terms do not change this analysis or create an ambiguity…”
Tezak alleges in the class action complaint that on April 13, Ticketmaster made a clarification to its refund policy due to the COVID-19 pandemic that included denying refunds for shows that were postponed or slated to be rescheduled.
He claims Ticketmaster is "hoarding" ticket holders' money for events they know will most likely not occur and despite its 30-day refund request plan, it is still holding customers' money hostage.