Montreal firm sues Ticketmaster over pricing for ‘Official Platinum’ Drake tickets
A Quebec man who paid a premium for tickets to a Drake concert has filed a class action lawsuit against American ticket company Ticketmaster, alleging that it willfully defrauded customers for financial gain.
Montreal law firm LPC Avocat Inc. said the lead plaintiff, described as a huge Drake fan, purchased two “Official Platinum” tickets to the July 14th show in Montreal for $789.54 each. claimed to have done so. However, the day after he purchased his tickets, it was announced that his second Drake concert would take place in the city, and Ticketmaster was selling the same seats for him for $427.06 apiece.
A class-action filing filed earlier this week in Laval, Quebec, just north of Montreal, says Ticketmaster touted the official platinum tickets as “some of the best seats in the house.” , the lawsuit states that seats were reserved by plaintiffs on the upper deck of Bell Center, about 13 rows below the top of the arena.
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“I think it’s illegal to advertise tickets that have some of the best seats in the house, in fact some of the worst seats in the house,” said Joey Zukran, Attorney at LPC Avocat Inc. said in an interview:
Ticketmaster did not respond to an email seeking comment on Friday.
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Drake performs at Lil Baby’s Birthday Party at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Saturday, December 9, 2022.
(Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP)
Court filings allege that Ticketmaster unilaterally determined what would be marketed as “official platinum.”
“As a result, most, if not all, of the tickets advertised and marketed as ‘Official Platinum’ are neither ‘premium tickets’ nor ‘some of the best seats in the house,’ and are in fact malicious. “Ticketmaster with artificially inflated insurance premiums,” the document reads.
The lawsuit also alleges that Ticketmaster had advance knowledge of multiple Drake shows in Montreal this summer.
Zukran said his clients bought tickets at a premium based on the idea that there was only one show with limited supply. “So when he finds out he has another show the next day, the market is flooded with more tickets, and he’s flooded with 21,000 more tickets, and the price drops.”
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The lawsuit states, “When Ticketmaster first released tickets for the first concert, they knew very well that Drake, one of the most famous singers in the world today, was going to perform two concerts in Montreal. However, we were hiding this information from the public in order to squeeze as much money as possible out of the real fans who lined up (virtually) to buy tickets for the first show.”
The class action seeks an injunction to stop Ticketmaster from branding tickets as “Official Platinum” if the tickets are not the best seats in the house, and each member of the potential class action You will be required to refund the price difference and pay $300. compensation for each.
The allegations have not been examined in court, and the Quebec Superior Court has yet to rule on whether to allow the class action to proceed.
Zucran said lawyers would seek a national class to include Canadian ticket buyers, but added that Ticketmaster may or may not raise arguments to limit the scope to Quebec. .
“Legal claims are based on Quebec’s consumer protection law and nationally applicable competition laws. So we may have a national class, but that’s a discussion in court,” Zukran said. said.
Zukran said it’s unclear how many people will be able to participate in the class action lawsuit.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
