The US Federal Trade Commission and four states have demanded a jury trial in their lawsuit against Live Nation and its ticketing subsidiary, Ticketmaster.
Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and Nebraska joined the FTC in the demand, which was filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday (October 27).
The lawsuit alleges that Live Nation and Ticketmaster violated the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act by reselling tickets that they knew, or should have known, brokers had obtained by getting around the measures Ticketmaster uses to enforce ticket limits.
“Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 38, Plaintiffs Federal Trade Commission; the Attorney General of Colorado; the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida, Department of Legal Affairs; the People of the State of Illinois; and the State of Nebraska demand a trial by jury on all issues so triable,” the filing states.
The demand covers only issues that can be tried to a jury. The FTC‘s request for a court order barring the practices it describes would still be decided by a judge.
The filing, which can be read in full here, was signed by lawyers for the FTC and for each of the four states.
Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia, which also joined the FTC’s lawsuit, are not named in the demand. It does not say why.
Under Rule 38 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party that does not serve and file a jury demand within 14 days of service of the last pleading on an issue waives its right to a jury. A proper demand can be withdrawn only if the parties consent.
The demand came on the last day allowed, 14 days after Live Nation and Ticketmaster filed their answer to the complaint on October 13.
The Ninth Circuit, whose rulings bind federal courts in California, has held that once one party demands a jury, other parties “are entitled to rely on that demand for the issues it covers, and need not file their own demands.” That could matter for Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
In a joint discovery and scheduling report filed on October 13, the plaintiffs proposed a jury trial beginning on April 24, 2028, according to TicketNews.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster proposed a bench trial, in which a judge decides the case without a jury, beginning on October 2, 2028. As of mid-October, the court had adopted neither date, the outlet reported.
The court was due to set deadlines for the case at a scheduling conference on October 29.
The FTC and seven states sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster in September 2025.
Their complaint alleges that the companies allowed brokers to use multiple Ticketmaster accounts to exceed posted ticket limits, and then collected fees again when those tickets were resold on Ticketmaster’s platform.
It cites an internal email in which a senior Ticketmaster executive allegedly said the companies “turn a blind eye as a matter of policy” to brokers breaking those limits.
According to the complaint, Ticketmaster charged USD $3.7 billion in fees on resale tickets from 2019 through 2024.
The FTC and six of the states also allege, under federal and state consumer-protection laws, that the companies misrepresented how strictly Ticketmaster enforced its ticket limits and displayed ticket prices that left out mandatory fees until checkout. Virginia is suing only under the BOTS Act.
US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong denied the companies’ motion to dismiss the case in full on September 28.
“The BOTS Act does not preclude platforms from facing liability, and the Court will not read it as doing so,” Frimpong wrote.
In the same order, Frimpong noted that the court was “not deciding at this stage whether the FTC’s and the states’ accusations are true.”
In their answer, Live Nation and Ticketmaster called the lawsuit “misguided.”
“Now, inexplicably, the Commission seeks to flip the Act on its head by turning it against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the very companies the Act is intended to support,” the companies said. “This perversion of the Act contradicts its plain meaning, flouts the will of Congress, and undoubtedly sets back the fight against scalpers.”
The companies say they have invested more than USD $1 billion since 2010 to combat ticket scalping.
On the deception claims, the answer states: “Ticketmaster now employs all-in pricing consistent with the Commission’s rules, and Defendants deny that they engaged in any false or misleading conduct as to disclosures on ticket limits.”
The FTC case is separate from the antitrust lawsuit in which a federal jury in Manhattan found on April 15 that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had illegally monopolized parts of the live events market, including primary concert ticketing at major venues.
That case was taken to verdict by 33 states and the District of Columbia after the US Department of Justice agreed to settle its claims against Live Nation in March.
The states have since asked the court to order Live Nation to sell Ticketmaster.
Live Nation said after the verdict that “the jury’s verdict is not the last word on this matter.” The companies have asked the court to throw out the verdict or order a new trial.
US District Judge Arun Subramanian has yet to rule on that request, or on whether to approve the DOJ settlement.Music Business Worldwide
