Madonna's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against her earlier this year over a late concert start time. Celebration tour currently underway.
In new court documents filed April 3 in the Eastern District of New York, lawyers for Madonna, Live Nation, and Barclays Center, named as defendants in the lawsuit, say the lawsuit will be thrown out. argues that it should.
Madonna's lawyer said: “Plaintiffs speculate that ticket holders who left the venue after 1 a.m. may have had a difficult time getting a ride home or had to get up early for work the next day.'' “There is,” he wrote. “It's not a visible injury.”
Lawyers argue that “waking up early to go to work'' does not constitute a legal “injury'' that can be sued.
Additionally, the lawyers argue that it is not “reasonable” for concertgoers to predict the expected start and end time of a show, regardless of what is printed on the event ticket.
“Reasonable concert-goers also know that concert lengths vary based on a variety of factors,” the document states.
Two concert goers — Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden — filed a lawsuit The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit in January in the U.S. District Court for the District of Eastern New York, said Madonna started her concert two hours late at Barclays Center on Dec. 13. His concerts on Sunday and December 16 also started more than two hours late, and he claimed he had received no warning of what was to come. Concert start time is late. Madonna and Live Nation did not mention those shows.
The plaintiffs claim that although the show was advertised as starting at 8:30 p.m., Madonna took the stage “between 10:45 p.m. and 11 p.m.,” resulting in the show starting at 1 a.m. Concertgoers claim that it didn't end until after the hour. As such, they are faced with “limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased public and private transportation costs.”
Because the concerts were held late on weekday nights, the plaintiffs claimed they had less sleep, making it difficult to “wake up early the next day to go to work and/or meet family responsibilities.”
In court documents, the plaintiffs accused Material Girl, 65, Live Nation and Barclays Center of engaging in “unconscionable, unfair, and/or deceptive trade practices.”
Fellows and Hadden are seeking “compensatory damages, statutory damages, treble damages, punitive damages, costs and attorneys' fees,” and a jury trial.
In new filings, Madonna's lawyers point to social media posts in which Hadden praised her performance.
A Facebook post dated December 14, 2023 read, “I saw her open her North American tour last night! Homage to New York! Amazing as always! Never miss a Madonna tour.” It's dark.
“In other words, the concert met or exceeded his expectations,” the lawyers wrote in the document.
ET has reached out to representatives for Madonna, Live Nation and Barclays Center for additional comment.
“Madonna just completed her sold-out 2023 Celebration Tour in Europe to rave reviews,” said Madonna Management and Live Nation. previously spoke to ET bAcquired in January. “The North American tour opened as planned at Barclays in Brooklyn, with the exception of a technical issue during soundcheck on December 13th, which caused a delay, which was well documented at the time. We intend to vigorously defend this lawsuit.”
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