Concert Fan Fights To Keep His Phantom Parking Case Alive

A concert fan challenging Live Nation’s practice of charging fans without cars fees for parking spaces that don’t exist is fighting to keep his case alive.

Live Nation has now filed a motion to dismiss the complaint in the case of Batson v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. et al., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  As we reported in a previous post, the plaintiff accuses Live Nation of illegally imposing on event goers mandatory parking fees that they “did not need, use, want, or voluntarily contract for,” in violation of the Sherman Act and California’s Unfair Competition Law

In its motion, the entertainment company argues the plaintiff’s antitrust tying claims fail to allege “antitrust injury,” since the plaintiff was not in the market for event parking the evening he attended the concert at issue – the plaintiff walked to the concert.  In addition, Live Nation states that there is neither foreclosure nor a danger that it will acquire market power in the market for event parking as Live Nation does not provide event parking to consumers. 

With respect to the plaintiff’s claim under California’s Unfair Competition Law, Live Nation argues that dismissal is appropriate under Illinois’ conflicts-of-law rules because California does not have the “most significant relationship” with the alleged injury, which occurred in Illinois.  Live Nation also includes the constitutional arguments of Due Process and the Full Faith and Credit Clause to support dismissal.