Sept 11 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly

report on lawyers and money. Please send tips or suggestions to

[email protected].)

Consumers suing Live Nation over ticket prices won

an opportunity this week to probe the relationships between the

entertainment giant, its law firm Latham & Watkins and a dispute

resolution company whose arbitration rules are a central

sticking point in the case.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in a Monday order said the

ticket buyers could collect evidence about arbitration firm New

Era and its work with Live Nation and Latham, complicating - or

at least delaying - Live Nation's effort to push the proposed

class action out of court and into private arbitration.

The lawsuit accuses Live Nation of illegally monopolizing

the ticketing services market and overcharging millions of

ticket buyers. The consumer litigation came after a related

lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department and a group of U.S.

states.

Live Nation, which has denied any wrongdoing, asked the New York

judge in November to rule that the plaintiffs were required to

arbitrate their claims based on provisions of their ticket

purchases, marking the latest clash over mass arbitrations as

defendants fight to limit their exposure to costly class

actions.

In their bid to keep the case in court, the plaintiffs'

lawyers at Robbins Geller said they should be allowed "limited

discovery" into Live Nation's arbitration practices.

"New Era, working with both the law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP

and defendants here, was designed to partner with corporations

in an effort to limit class exposure," Robbins Geller's David

Mitchell told the court in December.

Live Nation, Latham and attorneys at Robbins Geller did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.

New Era, which is not a defendant, said in a statement that

it has no relationship with Latham.

"Our only relationship with Live Nation is that of a neutral

dispute resolution service provider and one of our many

customers," New Era said. The company said questions about its

ties to Live Nation and Latham "were fully explored and

dismissed" in a consumer lawsuit against Live Nation in

California.

Robbins Geller cited the separate California ticket-pricing

case as part of its discovery request in the New York

litigation.

U.S. District Judge George Wu in Los Angeles ruled in 2023 that

Live Nation could not force the California case into arbitration

and must face a class action. The decision did not hinge on how

New Era's rules were developed, but the court said there

appeared to be "a remarkable degree of coordination between

Latham and New Era in terms of their interpretation and the

evolution of New Era's Rules."

Still, Wu said it was not clear to him that Latham helped to

craft or modify New Era's rules.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last year upheld

the trial judge's order. Live Nation is challenging the ruling

in the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a filing last year in the New York case, Live Nation

called the 9th Circuit's arbitration decision "irrelevant" to

the litigation in New York.

New Era amended its rules to address issues raised in the

litigation in California, Live Nation told the New York court.

The new rules were in place at the time that the New York case

was filed, Live Nation said.

Subramanian's order said the sides will get 90 days for

discovery and then he will consider how the information may

affect Live Nation's request for arbitration.

-- Law firms Susman Godfrey and Lieff Cabraser said they would

ask for up to 25% in legal fees, or $375 million, from their

blockbuster $1.5 billion settlement with artificial intelligence

startup Anthropic.

In court papers, the law firms, representing a class of

thousands of authors, called the settlement the largest publicly

reported copyright recovery in history. Anthropic did not admit

any liability.

A 25% fee award is the benchmark for federal courts that

make up the region covered by the 9th Circuit, the authors'

attorneys told U.S. District Judge William Alsup.

Attorneys at Susman Godfrey and Lieff Cabraser did not

immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did a

spokesperson for Anthropic.

-- A U.S. judge in Wisconsin last week awarded law firm

Kellogg Hansen more than $185 million in legal fees as part of a

$630 million antitrust class action settlement against

automotive tech giant CDK Global, finding that the firm's

initial request for $205 million "excessive."

Kellogg Hansen had defended its earlier request, amounting to

33% of the settlement fund. The firm said its fee was justified

based on the risk and complexity of the case and the deal's

value.

Lawyers for Kellogg Hansen did not immediately respond to a

request for comment.

Read more:

Google trial ends with $425 million verdict after Cooley

inherits privacy case

Law firm rates, revenues soar but costs pile up in AI era

Can investors buy in to Big Law? Burford Capital bets on

it