Live Nation Asks Judge to Overturn Monopoly Verdict for Lack of Evidence: ‘Legally Indefensible’
Categoria: Musica
Jurors said Live Nation and Ticketmaster are an illegal monopoly. Now the companies say the jury got it wrong.
Por Billboard | 22/05/2026
Live Nation is asking a federal judge to overturn the blockbuster verdict that the music giant is an illegal monopoly, arguing there was so little evidence during the trial that the jury’s decision “cannot stand.” In a pair of motions filed in Manhattan federal court Thursday (May 21), Live Nation is urging the judge to undo the April verdict , in which jurors sided decisively with a coalition of state attorneys general who called the concert company a “monopolistic bully.” Related Live Nation Lost Its Monopoly Trial. What’s Next — and Could Ticketmaster Really Be Sold? 'The Breakfast Club' to Stream Live Daily, Commercial-Free on Netflix: 'The Future Belongs to Those Who Can See What's Possible' Woman Accused of Attempting to Murder Rihanna to Face Mental Health Competency Test Live Nation wants the judge to either reverse the verdict entirely or grant the company a new trial. It says the states lacked sufficient evidence to win the case and instead had relied on “cherrypicked” data and claims designed to “inflame and distract” the jury. “In the end, the jury verdict is legally indefensible,” the company’s lawyers write in the filing, obtained and first reported by Billboard . “At the very least, a new trial is needed.” Thursday’s filings are the procedural first step in Live Nation’s efforts to overturn the verdict. If denied — such post-trial motions face long odds in any lawsuit — the company will then take the case to a federal appeals court, and then to the Supreme Court if necessary. Those efforts will have new stakes after the states formally asked earlier on Thursday that the judge must punish Live Nation by forcing it to sell Ticketmaster — a drastic change that would have major implications for the live music industry. Live Nation responded that a breakup is not legally available and the states’ request for one is “performative and political.” Related Live Nation Must Be Broken Up From Ticketmaster After Monopoly Verdict, States Tell Judge The Department of Justice and dozens of states sued Live Nation in 2024 , claiming the company (which acquired Ticketmaster in 2010) had grown into a monopoly that dominates live music: “It is time to break it up,” said then-attorney general Merrick Garland. A week after the case went to trial in March, the DOJ agreed to a surprise settlement . But dozens of states pushed ahead, with the goal of splitting Ticketmaster from Live Nation. And on April 15, they won a total victory: A verdict that Live Nation had violated federal antitrust laws by illegally monopolizing the market for ticketing services and other elements of the live music ecosystem. In Thursday’s filings, Live Nation argues that such a verdict was “contrary to the clear weight of the evidence” presented to jurors during the trial. Rather than concrete proof and valid legal claims, the company says the states’ case was mostly built on scaring jurors with “legally irrelevant” stories ab