Oct 1 (Reuters) - Major casino-hotel operators in

Atlantic City including Caesars Entertainment ( CZR ) and MGM Resorts ( MGM )

have persuaded a U.S. judge to dismiss a proposed consumer class

action accusing them and a revenue management platform of

overcharging for room rentals.

U.S. District Judge Karen Williams in Camden, New Jersey,

ruled on Tuesday that the consumers had failed to present enough

evidence to let their price-fixing lawsuit move ahead.

Williams dismissed the consumers' lawsuit with prejudice,

meaning it cannot be filed again. The case was part of a wave of

new lawsuits claiming the use of revenue management platforms

that rely on rivals' data can be deemed price-fixing.

The judge's ruling marked a second setback for plaintiffs

claiming that major hotels schemed to artificially jack up room

rates. Consumers in a related case have appealed a Nevada

federal judge's order dismissing their lawsuit against Wynn

Resorts ( WYNN ), Caesars and others.

In both cases, the plaintiffs alleged hotel owners fed

sensitive internal information - such as real-time price and

occupancy data - to a shared software platform that offered

pricing recommendations.

The hotels and the software maker, Cendyn, which was also a

defendant, have denied any wrongdoing.

Representatives from Cendyn, Caesars Entertainment ( CZR ), MGM

Resorts ( MGM ) and Hard Rock on Tuesday did not immediately respond to

messages seeking comment.

The plaintiffs' attorneys in the New Jersey case at law

firms Lite DePalma Greenberg & Afanador; Burns Charest; and

Susman Godfrey did not immediately respond to a similar request.

The consumers said in their lawsuit that the hotels used

Cendyn's "Rainmaker" software "as their shared pricing brain"

that "does all the hard work for them."

They said "while the AI-driven technology at issue may be

fairly novel, the underlying conduct is not."

Cendyn and the hotels countered that there was no direct or

circumstantial evidence that the defendants agreed to fix

prices. They also said the hotels were not required to accept

the software's pricing recommendations.

Williams concluded the plaintiffs failed to show how the

hotels used the allegedly confidential data after it was

provided to Cendyn. That missing detail, the court said, makes

the consumers' case "factually and legally incomplete."

Given that the individual hotels could and did set their own

rates, it was "implausible that they tacitly agreed to anything,

much less to fix the prices of their hotel rooms," Williams

wrote.

The case is Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment ( CZR ), U.S.

District Court for the District of New Jersey, No.

1:23-cv-02536.

For plaintiffs: Vineet Bhatia and Stephen Morrissey of

Susman Godfrey; and Warren Burns and Christopher Cormier of

Burns Charest

For Cendyn: Sadik Huseny and Anna Rathbun of Latham &

Watkins

For Caesars: Boris Bershteyn and Ken Schwartz of Skadden,

Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

For MGM: Harry Rimm of Womble Bond Dickinson; Bethany

Kristovich and Justin Raphael of Munger, Tolles & Olson

For Hard Rock: Jennifer Del Medico and David Kiernan of

Jones Day

Read more:

Consumers seek second chance in Las Vegas hotel price-fixing

lawsuit

CoStar, hotels slam consumers' 'fanciful' room pricing

lawsuit

Las Vegas hotels defeat price-fixing class action over room

rates

Atlantic City casino-hotels accused in scheme to boost room

rates