On Monday, the coalition of 33 states and D.C. filed a short letter in United States v. Live Nation Entertainment (Dkt. 1599) flagging last Friday's Ninth Circuit decision in the NFL Sunday Ticket antitrust case. It's a notice of supplemental authority: no new argument, just "here's a fresh appellate ruling that supports what we already told you." But the case they picked says a lot about where they think the fight over the Ticketmaster verdict is headed. It comes down to one witness: the states' damages expert.
Where the Live Nation case stands
A Manhattan jury found against Live Nation and Ticketmaster on every claim on April 15, after a five-week trial. The jury put the overcharge on primary tickets at major concert venues at $1.72 a ticket, across 22 states and D.C., and found violations of state antitrust laws in nine states. Live Nation has estimated the states' damages could hit $450 million once they're trebled.
The states got there without Washington. The DOJ settled with Live Nation mid-trial, in a deal that let the company keep Ticketmaster. Most of the states rejected it and finished the trial on their own, with Jeffrey Kessler as their lead trial counsel. That's why his name tops this letter, and why no federal lawyer signed it.
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