MoMack

Having not participated in Class Actions before, I would presume that "sit here and do nothing" will involve more in the long run. At the very least I would think they'd need to have a meeting with them wherein you provide back up for the tickets etc. you bought and swear some evidence etc. Maybe not.

I think I found a DVD of Tivolis which is great...

Just to take it a step further, if you look at say, the West Nile Virus, or Hep C / tainted blood class actions, the claimants received settlements of (I don't really know - but for some reason I think it was just under $50,000). Wasn't worth it to bring seperate actions, the legal costs of that very complex litigation would have been way in excess of the recovery. Group together and presto its worth it. The difference here is - its still not going to be worth it to anyone but the lawyers! The legal fees will be the biggest part of the recovery and I would anticipate that the claimants will receive a negligible amount, if anything. (They will get a shot at changing law / perceived justice - which in my less cynical days I may have argued makes it worth it.)

What I'm trying to say is its not worth it and anyone that walked into a lawyer's office and asked about bringing a claim against Ticketmaster for this outside of a class action would be told that it wasn't worth it. As a class action it is worth it because of the positive impact it may have on consumer protection etc., not because of the $14.95 times X number of tickets you may get back for your time. The real winners will be the lawyers that will run up millions in costs.

You missed the point - I personally buy a lot of tickets, but the dollar value, for the past two years, is still well under say $5,000 including all charges etc. Therefore, its not worth it for me to get involved due to the opportunity costs. The same would be true for most or all people. So if its not worth it to the people named in the suit (on a purely financial basis) then who is it worth it to? Its worth it to the lawyers who will make big big bucks if successful (a good portion of their costs paid by ticketmaster, and around 30% of anything they recover) but ON TOP of that, there are precedents, e.g. York University, that allow for the UNSUCCESSFUL plaintiff class action lawyers to have their costs paid. Although, the more I think about it I almost wonder what is involved with being a claimant - it may not be much investment of time.

The reality is likely that no one will get any money other than the lawyers that bring the action. The amounts are very low. If they get certified as a Class Action then that may be enough to warrant them receiving a costs award from Ticketmaster based on doing public justice. Not sure exactly how it works, but there was talk about this on CBC when the class action was initiated against York/CUPE. Basically the same facts as a few years back where they ultimately lost but the court still awarded the lawyers huge costs for bringing the action. I mean, think about it, Ticketmaster tickets are not *that* expensive whether through Ticketmaster or TicketsNow when you start adding up the time it would take to give statements, fill out forms, go to court etc. The people that can afford to pay the TicketsNow prices probably have an even higher opportunity cost. Just to throw the lawyers a bone, I will say that their efforts could assist with changing the system (hopefully) and for that they should be praised.

And honestly, I'm not a computer guy, but how hard would it be to make some sort of program that automatically transferrs the information from ticketmaster to ticketsnow once tickets are bought? This isn't prior to the on-sale, but it is immediate. On top of that you've got pre-sales, fan clubs, promotors and record lable tickets etc. I would think there are lots of ways to get tickets before you're supposed to.

Were all those bands there last year? Just wondering if its accurate?

I wasn't clear. Those are the two "claims" yes, in a broad, turn it into one sentance sense. In all liklihood both "claims" are actually made up of 25+ allegations of various types in the Statement of Claim. e.g. one might be that ticketmaster knew or ought to have known that their employees are selling the best seats to themselves and putting them up on TicketsNow. Maybe they knew or ought to have known that people were hacking around the system. Ticketmaster probably can't benefit by turning a blind eye to other's breaking the law. Possible analogy being buying something that is hot that you know is hot. Its probably possession of stolen property, not a good deal (Mind you thats criminal not civil) Also Basher, I'm not 100% that I agree with you that Ticketmaster is not selling tickets on TicketsNow. They are guaranteeing the sales aren't they? And they're taking a cut. Likely the end user is paying one fee for ticket + charges etc. I think there is an argument to be made that TicketsNow is in fact selling tickets. Is Priceline selling hotels? There are similarities (and differences). Its all shades of grey. I blame Microsoft. As a disclaimer - I have no insight into anti-trust law or IP/IT or criminal or any other area of law that this deals with. Just a philisophical discussion from where I'm sitting.

Often times lawyers will pull many many allegations out of thin air and include them in teh Statement of Claim. They do so because the questions asked at discovery (known as depositions in the U.S.) are framed by the Statement of Claim. If you don't allege it in the claim, you can't ask questions about it at discovery. Therefore you put many and broad allegations in the claim. I haven't read the claim here - but I'm thinking that even if all of the tickets are placed on TicketsNow by seperate entities there would still be a claim against Ticketmaster based on the possibility that they divert and/or grant special access to good seats that then end up on TicketsNow. I mean, Ticketmaster could very well have 10,000 seperate numbered companies that they give preferential access to and those 10,000 numbered companies then put the tickets on TicketsNow. Those numbered companies would be considered "individuals" in the legal sense I think...

Is it true that there will be a buffet of smallteens and pepper jelly with the price of admission?

Thanks all. Getting to that point of being, well, old. But young at heart!

$750/each is a little much. I'd say they're worth it at $400 just to save the walking and get the cheap/cold beers and free water (but they probably aren't even cheap/free anymore).

I don't know what the VIP price is - but I did it for Bonnaroo II and it was well worth it. $1 micro-brews and free water made it worth it alone. Oh, and it was free which also helped ; )

ditto...i will buy a ticket as soon as they go on sale if thats true Didn't I hear that they were near sold out already??? (not that its a tough ticket anyways)

tickets.com just called me to say they sent my 6 tickets to Albany Dead to some guy named Matthew in New York. No apology. Nothing. Then they said he was mailing the tickets back to them, and I will probably be receiving his 2 tickets and could I please mail them back. Still no apology. weird.

I'm also looking for a room w/in walking distance...

tickets.com

How about OB or HOB? OB sounds great but its not in yhe budget for this guy. Boooo I'm with you. Never been but everyone seems to say its beach weather in April. Sure would be nice to leave the snow and flurries, see 3 shows and hang on the beach. Already got Albany Dead though...

I was thinking you meant floor, but now I'm guessing you're talking section 117. If they were 7th row floors it was going to get me there... they will show up sooner or later I'm sure.

Keep trying - it won't sell out for a while if they're crashing that much.

How about OB or HOB?

From the thread title I assumed you were planning on hitting a lot of Panic this year - but I think they're slowing it down for 2009 so Jimmy can do his thing. I know what you're feeling though. I'm at that point in life where sometimes I have to prioritize work over shows and it sucks.

on the dirt cheap part check out travelzoo.ca my old roomate managed to do a week all-in just before x-mas for under $400 taxes included. She's a bit of a priss and said it was great. No idea where exactly though.

What, you wake up with a nasty headache or something?