Canadian Court Sides With Ticketmaster in Drip-Pricing Lawsuit

A Canadian federal judge has dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Ticketmaster, ruling that the country’s federal drip-pricing laws do not require ticket sellers to advertise a single, all-inclusive price when mandatory fees are clearly disclosed alongside the ticket price. In a Sept. 22 decision, Federal Court Justice Denis Gascon rejected claims that Ticketmaster’s separately displayed order processing fee violated Canada’s Competition Act.

The lawsuit originated from a November 2023 ticket purchase by Kamaria Kuling, who bought two tickets to a comedy show through Ticketmaster. Each ticket carried a face value of CA$74.50, but the final total reached CA$190 after the addition of a CA$29.50 service fee, a CA$9 facility charge, and a CA$2.50 order processing fee. Kuling filed suit in January 2024, alleging that Ticketmaster’s pricing practices violated the Competition Act because the tickets could not be purchased at the initially displayed prices without paying additional mandatory fees.

During the proceedings, Kuling’s attorneys narrowed the case by abandoning challenges to service fees, facility charges, and delivery fees, leaving the CA$2.50 order processing charge as the sole disputed fee. The court examined screenshots of Ticketmaster’s purchasing process and found that event pages already incorporated service fees, facility charges, and applicable taxes into the displayed individual ticket prices.

Justice Gascon established a legal distinction between prohibited drip pricing—where fees are concealed and later revealed during the purchasing process—and partitioned or segmented pricing, where fees are displayed separately but simultaneously. The court noted that the order processing notice appeared in bold text immediately above the advertised ticket price without requiring customers to scroll or search for fine print.

“Both the Order Processing Fee and the face value price for the tickets are displayed simultaneously, in close proximity to one another and in plain sight,” Gascon wrote. The judge concluded that ordinary purchasers are capable of basic arithmetic and that Ticketmaster’s pricing practices did not fall within the conduct prohibited by the federal statute. The ruling marks a significant legal victory for the ticketing platform in Canada.

Separately, ticketing platforms and major event sales continue to draw regulatory and legal scrutiny across multiple fronts. Federal investigators in the United States recently filed a lawsuit against a ticket broker accused of using thousands of automated accounts to circumvent purchase limits for high-demand events. Meanwhile, ticketing operations remain central to major upcoming entertainment schedules, including sales for international music tours and festivals handled through official platforms.