Madonna's management team and Live Nation responded Wednesday to a high-profile lawsuit alleging the music legend harmed her fans by starting concerts in New York later than scheduled, disputing some of the allegations and saying they plan to “defend this case strongly”.
The response came after days of silence on the proposed class-action lawsuit, in which two fans claim the star and the concert giant breached their contract with audiences and violated New York state law by starting three December shows in Brooklyn more than two hours later than scheduled.
In their joint statement, reps for Madonna and Live Nation said the just-concluded European leg of her holiday tour had “received rave reviews” and vowed to fight back against the lawsuit's allegations.
“The shows opened in North America at Barclays in Brooklyn as scheduled, with the exception of a technical issue on December 13 during soundcheck,” reps for Madonna and Live Nation said. “This caused a delay that was well documented in press reports at the time. We intend to defend this case vigorously.”
Ticket buyers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden filed their case last week, claiming the delays — starting at 10:30 p.m. instead of the scheduled 8:30 p.m. — caused actual legal harm to ticket buyers who, among other things, “had to woke up early to go to work' the next day.
“Defendants' actions constitute not only a breach of their contracts … but also wanton practice of false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices,” lawyers for the two men wrote in their complaint, filed in Brooklyn federal court.
The three concerts at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, stops on Madonna's Celebration tour, were originally scheduled for July but were rescheduled for December due to the singer's illness. Fellows and Hadden said they expected their show (Dec. 13) to start on time and “would not have paid for their tickets if they had known the concerts would start after 10:30 p.m.”
“Defendants failed to inform ticket holders that the concerts would begin much later than the start time shown on the ticket and as advertised,” lawyers for the two men wrote.
Leaving the Barclays Center after 1am, the two men claimed ticket buyers were “stranded in the middle of the night”, some “faced with limited public transport options” and others with increased prices for public services of use. They also pointed out that the gig took place “a week away”, meaning they “had to wake up early to go to work and/or take care of family obligations the next day”.
Can fans really sue over this? When they formally respond in court, Madonna and Live Nation will likely dispute many of the lawsuit's claims, arguing that concert fans are aware that live events sometimes start a little later than scheduled. They could also highlight contractual provisions in ticket contracts that could give artists some leeway for unexpected delays.
In addition to Madonna herself, the lawsuit also named Live Nation and Barclays Center as defendants. In technical terms, the complaint was alleged to be a breach of contract. violation of New York's business practices and false advertising laws; and many other forms of wrongdoing, including unjust enrichment.
The suit also included a claim of alleged negligent misrepresentation, saying concert organizers “knew or should have known” that concerts would not start at 8:30 because of alleged past instances of Madonna being late to the stage — and they should have warned fans.
“Madonna has a long history of arriving and starting concerts late, sometimes by several hours,” attorneys for Fellows and Hadden wrote. “This story took place during the 2016 Rebel Heart tour, the 2019-2020 Madame X tour, and previous tours where Madonna consistently started her concerts two hours late.”
Attorneys for Fellows and Hadden did not return a request for comment on Wednesday's responding statement.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/business-news/madonna-live-nation-respond-lawsuit-over-concert-delays-1235588415/
