Live Nation doesn’t like its venue

The DOJ and various state AGs filed their antitrust case against Live Nation in SDNY, seeking to unwind  its merger with Ticketmaster.  Today, Live Nation moved to transfer the case to D.C., arguing that the initial merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster is subject to a 2020 consent decree that “includes a mandatory forum selection clause designating the D.C. Court as the forum for legal actions.”  Additionally, it argues that the suit will generally be more conveniently litigated there.  But the consent decree doesn’t suggest venue is exclusively proper in DC (see Section XIV.), and it’s unclear if the current suit is a dispute over the application of the decree.  Plus, Live Nation and Ticketmaster are both headquartered in California (where most relevant witnesses and documents presumably are), so it’s tough to see why DC makes any more sense than NY (where the defendants have offices), and why Live Nation overlooks CA as a more convenient venue.

So why seek to transfer at all?  The judge overseeing the Live Nation case is Judge Arun Subramanian, a former plaintiff-side antitrust litigator coming from a law firm that has a history of bringing (and winning) major antitrust suits.  So it’s not a stretch to assume that Live Nation isn't anticipating a favorable reception from the young J. Subramanian as the case unfolds, and DC was where it has the best chance of getting a more sympathetic judge who oversaw the finalization of the consent decree.