DOJ Calls Live Nation ‘Desperate’ Over Bid to Delay Monopoly Trial

The U.S. Department of Justice just blasted Live Nation for filing a “desperate” effort to postpone its looming federal monopoly trial. With a trial set to start next week, Live Nation is currently asking the judge to delay the showdown so the company can appeal his recent ruling that refused to dismiss the case .

But in an unusually strongly worded response from the government on Tuesday, the feds called that effort “meritless.” “On the eve of a landmark monopolization trial, defendants make a desperate plea,” the DOJ’s lawyers write in their motion, obtained and first reported by Billboard . “But this motion is yet another meritless attempt to delay trial.” After nearly two years of litigation, Judge Arun Subramanian ruled last week that the DOJ could proceed to trial in its sweeping antitrust lawsuit, which claims that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have abused their dominance over the live music industry and seeks to break up the live music behemoth.

Jury selection is currently set to begin next week. But Live Nation argued on Monday that it should be allowed to file an immediate appeal, arguing that last week’s ruling contained legal errors that could “dramatically change” the case if overturned. And it said the scheduled trial must be halted until that appeal has been decided.

“The court should not empanel a jury to try a complex, month-long case when that trial (at least as currently envisioned) may well prove wholly unnecessary.”