Anyone who has purchased a ticket from Ticketmaster has a right feeling betrayed after learning the news that broke last week. The company has been pitching professional staplers a reseller program on the low, tapping into an after-sales market worth millions. Legal fights are already brewing as Ticketmaster’s secret scalper program is being targeted by class-action lawyers.
According to CBC News, court documents filed back in February originally planed on suing parent company Live Nation on behalf of a Regina resident. This was after Canada’s Competition Bureau accused Ticketmaster of jacking up prices. Now, Lawyer Tony Merchant says he plans to amend his client’s claims to include details of the secret scalper program. This suit has yet to be certified as a class-action, but that’s exactly what it could become.
“It’s a result of the CBC/Star investigation that got us looking at whether we can advance a claim successfully for breach of competition and consumer affairs legislation,” Merchant explained.
“We knew about the issues of scalpers. But we did not know there was evidence available of them working conjunctively with scalpers. Getting those things on camera are things a court will listen to… You’ve sent us back to the drawing board.”
Meanwhile, in the US, Hagens Berman is acquiring signatures for an additional lawsuit against the company. A spokesperson said, “We are evaluating a class action lawsuit to provide restitution to consumers and to stop the unfair business practices that have been reported.”
In the wake of the allegations, Ticketmaster issued a statement to CBC News, asserting it’s “categorically untrue that Ticketmaster has any program in place to enable resellers to acquire large volumes of tickets.”
The company has not provided any additional comment concerning the lawsuits.
Source: CBC