The Government Settled Mid-Trial, and New Lawyers Got Eight Days to Take Over
The states wanted to keep fighting, and Winston & Strawn got little more than a week to learn the case.
Original Jurisdiction · Biglaw’s Embrace Of Contingency LitigationThe jury was already seated when the trial changed hands.
Federal enforcers had sued Live Nation over antitrust violations, and the case had reached trial. Then, in the middle of the proceedings, the federal government settled and stepped aside, leaving the plaintiff states to continue the case.
Those remaining plaintiffs were a group of states, suing through their attorneys general. They tapped Eva Cole, a litigator at the law firm Winston & Strawn, and her colleague Jeff Kessler, also a Winston lawyer, to take over the giant case on short notice.
They had eight days to do it. "Eight days. Lots of time," Cole joked.
The states needed new trial lawyers on short notice. A jury was in place, the federal team was out, and lawyers who had not brought the case had little more than a week to get ready to argue it.
The firm had done plaintiff-side work before, which is why Winston was not starting from zero. Cole said the firm had always kept "a small bucket of plaintiff-side work," filing lawsuits rather than only defending them.
Some of that work grew out of its sports practice, where the firm represents players associations and athletes who are often on the suing side. Cole said the firm had also acted for established business clients bringing competition cases against competitors and, in some instances, against customers.
That plaintiff work now mattered on a much bigger case. The states wanted to press ahead with the competition case against the concert and ticketing company, over claims the company used its scale to shut out competition.
Winston had eight days to take it over.
Questions people ask
Who are the state attorneys general in a case like this?
State attorneys general are the top lawyers for their states, and they can sue companies on behalf of residents. In antitrust cases, they often join the federal government as co-plaintiffs, so if federal enforcers settle, the states can choose to continue on their own.
If the federal government settles, does the whole case end?
No. A settlement ends the case only for the party that settles. Other plaintiffs with their own claims can keep going, though they lose the lawyers, money, and momentum the settling party provided.
What do Live Nation and Ticketmaster do?
Live Nation is a concert promoter and venue operator, and Ticketmaster, which it owns, is the dominant seller of tickets to concerts and other live events. Federal and state enforcers have alleged the combined company uses that scale to shut out competition.