One of the Taylor Swift fans who sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster over last year's ticketing debacle in relation to The Eras Tour has dropped the case.
Michelle Sterioff asked a federal judge to dismiss her lawsuit on Tuesday. Earlier this year it was confirmed that settlement talks were underway between the ticket buyer and the live giant, though it's not known if the dismissal means a settlement was reached.
Ticketmaster's Verified Fan system collapsed when tickets for Swift's tour first went on pre-sale last year. That put Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary very much in spotlight, including in political circles. Plus two class action lawsuits were filed accusing Live Nation and Ticketmaster of anti-competitive conduct.
Sterioff went legal a year ago, stating in her lawsuit that Ticketmaster was basically a “monopoly that is only interested in taking every dollar it can from a captive public".
“Because Ticketmaster has exclusive agreements with virtually all venues capable of accommodating large concerts", she added, "Taylor Swift and other popular musicians have no choice but to sell their tickets through Ticketmaster, and their fans have no choice but to purchase tickets through Ticketmaster’s primary ticketing platform".
In addition to the settlement talks, both sides in the dispute seemed to recognise that the litigation would likely be impacted by ongoing legal wrangling in other cases that are testing whether or not Ticketmaster can force consumer disputes to private arbitration.
Ticketmaster usually argues in cases like this that when consumers buy tickets from its platform they accept terms that say disputes should go to arbitration rather than court. However, that position has been challenged in the past. And the most recent challenge has been more successful, mainly because Ticketmaster changed its chosen arbitrator.
Sterioff would likely have needed that challenge to reach its conclusion - in favour of the ticket buyers over the ticketing company - in order to stop her dispute also being forced to arbitration.
Following this week's dismissal of her lawsuit, it doesn't matter anymore. Though the other class action lawsuit filed in the wake of the Taylor Swift ticketing meltdown - which basically made the same arguments of anti-competitive conduct - continues to go through the motions.