A gaggle of state attorneys common has requested a federal court docket to authorize discovery into the US Division of Justice‘s antitrust settlement with Reside Nation and Ticketmaster.
The states need to look at each whether or not the settlement does sufficient to revive competitors and the way it was negotiated, together with communications between Reside Nation, the DOJ, and the White Home.
In a letter to Decide Arun Subramanian on Thursday (July 16), which you’ll learn in full right here, they stated they’ve “important issues that the Settlement shouldn’t be within the public curiosity.”
The letter was filed by 21 of the plaintiff states, based on the submitting – led by the antitrust unit of Colorado‘s Division of Regulation and joined by New York, California, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, amongst others.
The states are invoking the Tunney Act, beneath which antitrust settlements proposed by the US should be independently reviewed by a court docket to find out whether or not getting into the judgment “is within the public curiosity.”
The DOJ‘s proposed phrases, the states argue, “seem like inadequate to meaningfully enhance competitors within the related markets and will additionally enhance obstacles to entry and scale back competitors.”
A few of the states additionally raised issues in regards to the course of that produced the settlement — issues the letter stated had been “pushed partially by the dearth of transparency in regards to the settlement negotiations that passed off previous to March 2, 2026.”
The states stated they weren’t notified of the negotiations between the US and Reside Nation till January 29, 2026 – “a yr after they started.”
The Requesting States, because the letter calls them, stated that “public reporting and Defendants’ latest submitting additional counsel to some states that america’s acceptance of the Settlement might have been influenced by people exterior of the Division of Justice and issues aside from restoring or rising competitors.”
The letter cites a latest submitting by Reside Nation stating that, between February 2025 and March 2026, the corporate held conferences and exchanged written communications with DOJ officers and staff — in addition to with the Workplace of the White Home Counsel — “associated to the negotiation of a possible settlement.”
The letter additionally states that the DOJ‘s lead trial counsel “was unaware of the phrases of the settlement till it was filed with the Court docket.”
The DOJ, joined by 30 state and district attorneys common, sued Reside Nation and Ticketmaster in Could 2024, accusing them of monopolizing markets throughout the stay leisure business.
The trial started on March 2 in Manhattan, and one week later the DOJ reached a settlement that allowed Reside Nation to maintain Ticketmaster.
That deal put aside a USD $280 million fund for state damages claims, required the divestiture of 13 amphitheater reserving agreements, and prolonged the corporate’s consent decree with the DOJ by eight years.
A lot of the states rejected the settlement, and a coalition of 33 states and the District of Columbia pressed the case to trial.
On April 15, a federal jury discovered that Reside Nation and Ticketmaster had illegally monopolized the US ticketing and amphitheater markets, siding with the states on each declare.
The settlement itself stays topic to Tunney Act assessment by Decide Subramanian, who should resolve whether or not it serves the general public curiosity earlier than it may be finalized – the continuing beneath which the states at the moment are in search of discovery.
If the court docket grants the request, the states stated they might search paperwork, data, and testimony on the settlement’s “open distribution and ticket authentication system” and on the choice of the 13 amphitheater reserving agreements marked for divestiture.
They might additionally search communications in regards to the settlement’s phrases between the US, Reside Nation, and the people named within the firm’s submitting, “in addition to testimony from a few of these people.”
Each the DOJ and Reside Nation oppose the request.
The corporate opposes any discovery into the method that led to the settlement or the alternate options thought-about, whereas the US opposes any request to take discovery from the federal government.
Reside Nation has stated the DOJ settlement resolves the federal government’s remaining claims with none admission of wrongdoing, and has denied the allegations all through the case.
The events held two video conferences in July earlier than confirming an deadlock, and collectively proposed that the US and Reside Nation be given one week to answer to the movement.
Individually, Reside Nation is in search of to overturn the April verdict or win a brand new trial, with a listening to on these motions set for July 29.Music Enterprise Worldwide
