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Live Nation Attorneys Granted Limited Access to Confidential Documents in Antitrust Case

By  |  July 30, 2024
A federal judge has ruled that Live Nations’ top two in-house attorneys will be allowed to access certain confidential documents produced by competitors, though they will be barred from viewing “highly confidential” information. This decision, part of a protective court order signed on Monday, July 29, in the Southern District of New York, marks a significant balance between Live Nation’s defense needs and the protection of sensitive competitive data.

According to Billboard, the judge established a two-tiered system for handling non-public documents that the Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoenaed from Live Nation’s competitors, such as AEG Presents and SeatGeek. This ruling follows six weeks of discussions led by DOJ antitrust trial counsel Bonny Sweeney with Live Nation, which is accused of monopolistic practices in its ticketing and concert promotion operations. The negotiations focused on limiting access for the company’s in-house lawyers — executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs Dan Wall and senior vice president of litigation Kimberly Tobias — to sensitive information submitted by competitors.

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    Live Nation’s attorneys argued that Wall and Tobias need access to confidential information to adequately prepare the company’s defense. “Mr. Wall and Ms. Tobias are litigation counsel in good standing and officers of the court,” Live Nation’s outside counsel Alfred C. Pfeiffer wrote to New York federal judge Arun Subramanian. “Both have been bound by numerous protective orders and never been accused of violating those orders. Their access to confidential information in no way puts such information at risk.”

    Related: Live Nation Seeks to Move DOJ Antitrust Case to Washington, D.C.

    Per Billboard, while the court agreed to allow Wall and Tobias access to less sensitive confidential documents, it maintained strict conditions on how this information can be used and shared. Government lawyers, however, contended that even if Wall and Tobias pledge to use the information solely for this case, they “can’t unsee what they have seen,” as Judge Subramanian noted in a July 23 court order. This led attorneys for SeatGeek, AEG and ASM Global to file letters two days later, urging the judge to prevent Wall and Tobias from accessing any highly confidential documents produced by their companies.

    SeatGeek’s attorney, William Kalema, highlighted the importance of this restriction in a letter to the court, noting that the documents submitted by SeatGeek “include documents that a company would never want to fall into the hands of any competitor.” This underscores the high stakes involved in maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive business information in the ongoing antitrust litigation against Live Nation.

    According to Billboard, this ruling represents a crucial step in the DOJ’s case against Live Nation. By allowing limited access to confidential documents while safeguarding highly sensitive information, the court aims to balance the needs of Live Nation’s defense with the protection of competitive interests in the live entertainment industry.

    Source: Billboard