Livenation

Ticketmaster and Live Nation sought to compel the named plaintiffs to individual arbitration under the binding arbitration and class action waiver clauses in ...

To avoid litigation like the kind faced by Ticketmaster and Live Nation, it is a best practice to use “clickwrap,” which requires users to click a box to confirm their assent to an agreement before proceeding. The other key takeaway is that the website terms of use containing the arbitration clause should be sufficiently highlighted to make it easily noticeable to a reasonable consumer. Ticketmaster and Live Nation sought to compel the named plaintiffs to individual arbitration under the binding arbitration and class action waiver clauses in the terms of use on Ticketmaster’s and Live Nation’s websites. The Court noted that, at three separate points – when creating an account, signing into an account and completing a purchase – Ticketmaster and Live Nation webpage users are presented with a confirmation button with text above informing the user that by clicking on the button, the user agrees to the terms of use. On the second issue, the panel undertook a fact-intensive analysis, ultimately concluding that the user interface provided sufficient notice of the terms to consider plaintiffs constructively bound by them. Plaintiffs appealed from a decision by Judge George Wu of the United States District Court for the Central District of California upholding the arbitration and class action waiver clauses as enforceable.