A Canadian law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster over allegedly price gauging tickets for Drake’s upcoming tour, the Toronto Star reports. The Montreal-based firm LPC Avocat Inc. claims that the ticketing behemoth “intentionally misleads consumers for [its] own financial gain.”
According to the complaint, obtained by the Toronto Star, a Montreal man purchased two “Official Platinum” seats for Drake’s July 14 concert at the Bell Centre, each costing $789.54. The following day, a new show (on July 15) was allegedly added to Ticketmaster with the same seats listed at roughly $350 less.
In the suit, LPC Avocat Inc. alleges that Ticketmaster knew about the July 15 Drake concert in advance, but withheld the information. It also alleges that the “Official Platinum” seats were ordinary seats sold “at an artificially inflated premium in bad faith.”
The Toronto Star reports that plaintiffs are seeking “compensatory damages in the aggregate amount of the difference between the prices charged for ‘Official Platinum’ tickets and what their regular price ought to have been,” per the complaint. They are also seeking $300 per customer in punitive damages.
Ticketmaster is currently facing multiple lawsuits over fraud, price-fixing, anticompetitive behavior, and more—especially with regards to the fiasco surrounding Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ticket sales. The company has also faced a congrssional hearing and an antitrust investigation for abuse of power. Swift, the Cure, Neil Young, and others have publicly criticized Ticketmaster for misusing its monopoly in the ticketing field.
Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Ticketmaster and Drake for further information and comment.
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