Can I Sue for Being Kicked Out of a Concert?

Concert venues cannot discriminate against you because of your membership in a class protected by law. If they do, you can bring a civil rights lawsuit. 

Suing a concert venue can be challenging. The venue will hire capable lawyers to represent it. You may want to have one in your corner, too.

Consider consulting with an experienced civil rights attorney in your area if you believe you have been discriminated against. Or contact a contracts lawyer if you were kicked out for some other reason. A reputable law firm can give you legal advice about whether you have a claim, help you understand your legal rights, and represent you in court if you wish to bring legal action. Keep in mind that if you were injured, a personal injury lawyer could help.

Concert Venues and Ticket Purchases

Las Vegas leads the country in the number of concerts each year. Its many venues boast some of the top names in Rock, Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop, Soul, Country, and Latin. But Las Vegas doesn’t have a monopoly on great live music venues. 

According to Rolling Stone, some of the best places for concert-goers to see live music include:

• First Ave (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• El Club (Detroit, Michigan)
• Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, California)
• Red Rocks (Morrison, Colorado)
• Ryman Auditorium (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Stubbs (Austin, Texas)
• Brooklyn Steel (New York, New York)
• Jannus Live (St. Petersburg, Florida)
• Prudential Center (Newark, New Jersey)

Buying Concert Tickets Online

Virtually no one buys their tickets at the venue’s physical box office anymore. People buy them online through one of the following major ticket marketplaces:

• Ticketmaster (part of Live Nation Entertainment)
• StubHub
• Vivid Seats
• SeatGeek

These marketplaces sell tickets on behalf of the event organizer, such as the artist or the concert promoter, for a fee. Sometimes, a hefty fee.

Not Every Concert Experience Is Great

Say you’re going to see a famous rapper on tour. Tickets are on sale. You missed seeing the last tour years ago because of cancellations. So, you sign in to your Ticketmaster account (credit card already saved in your settings) and click your way through the purchase of a ticket.

Concert day arrives. You go through venue security, find your seat. The place is noisy, packed with ticketholders and security working crowd control.

A large and intimidating security guard passes by your seat. To your surprise, they demand that you leave. You ask them if they are serious. They respond with a slew of insults that center on how you identify as a person. For example, say a security guard uses the n-word, insults your sexual identity or orientation, or makes fun of your disability before kicking you out.

You missed a concert you were dying to see and are out of the price of an expensive ticket. The rapper won’t be anywhere near your city until next year. By the time you get home, you’re determined not to let this stand. You see whether you can file a lawsuit.

Concert Venue Discrimination Claims

The first claim you may be able to bring is for illegal discrimination. The federal government and the states have laws that prohibit discrimination in public accommodations such as concert venues.

Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act create what are called “protected classes." You can’t be discriminated against under federal law based on your membership in one of the following protected classes:

• Race
• Color
• Religion
• National origin
• Real or perceived disability

Most states have added to this list in their human rights acts. So, discrimination against the following protected classes is also prohibited:

• Sex
• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity

What Can I Recover for Illegal Discrimination?

If you can prove you were discriminated against because of your membership in one of these protected classes, you may be able to recover damages. These damages might include compensatory damages, punitive damages, and your legal fees.

Compensatory damages are intended to make you whole for any loss you may have suffered. For example, since you were discriminated against because of your race, which is a protected class, you may be able to recover the cost of your ticket, parking fees, and arguably gas money. You could also argue that you’re entitled to pain and suffering for the indignity of being discriminated against. But a court might not award you that.

You may be entitled to punitive damages. Punitive damages are intended to punish a wrongdoer for extreme or outrageous behavior and deter them and others from doing the same thing. You could argue that in today’s world, ejecting someone from a concert because of their race and calling them the n-word is extreme and outrageous.

Finally, you may be able to recover any reasonable fees you paid your lawyer to represent you in your discrimination case. But that depends on where you are. Some states, such as California and Florida, let you recover attorneys’ fees. Other states, such as Texas and New York, don’t. Make sure you check your state’s law.

Breach of Contract Claims

A second claim you may be able to bring is for breach of contract. A contract is an agreement between two or more parties that creates a legal duty to do or not do something for each party. If one party fails to do what they promised to do, the law will provide a remedy.

When you bought your ticket on Ticketmaster’s website, you had to agree to their terms and conditions to go forward with the purchase. You may have just clicked the box that said “I agree to the Terms and Conditions" without even reading them. Checking the box signifies your agreement to Ticketmaster’s terms. It creates a valid contract between you and Ticketmaster.

If you actually read them, you will see that the terms and conditions are incredibly one-sided. For example, the terms provide that the event organizer can eject anyone they think is “disorderly, who uses vulgar or abusive language, or who fails to comply with Event Organizer Rules" (whatever those might be). That’s a pretty vague standard. And it’s entirely up to the event organizer to decide if it’s been met.

That’s not all. The terms and conditions are also full of limitations and restrictions on how you can get legal relief. We highlight a few below, but make sure you read your ticket marketplace’s terms carefully.

Limitations on Liability

According to another section of the terms and conditions, The liability of the event coordinator and Ticketmaster for compensatory damages is extremely limited. You give up any right to sue for all sorts of damages that you might otherwise recover in a breach of contract case.

The terms also expressly limit your financial recovery to the greater of $100 or the sum you’ve paid to Ticketmaster over the past twelve months.

Limitations on Legal Relief

Under the terms, you can’t bring an action in court unless it’s small claims court. Small claims courts have the power to handle disputes up to a limited amount under state law. If you believe your damages exceed that amount, you must either give up part of your recovery or seek any legal relief through arbitration.

Arbitration is a legal process in which the parties select a neutral third party, an arbitrator, to decide their dispute. The parties present evidence and arguments to the arbitrator, who then issues a ruling. You give up your right to a jury trial, and you have only a very limited right to appeal. Lawyers disagree about whether arbitration is as efficient or as fair as a lawsuit.

You also give up your right to bring a class action. A class-action lawsuit is a procedural device in which a number of people with similar claims group their claims together and file them in a single lawsuit. By grouping their claims together, people whose losses are small can still get relief from a court. Otherwise, filing a lawsuit on their own may not be worth the expense.

Kicked Out for Intoxication: Can I Sue the Venue?

No, you can’t sue if you were kicked out for violating the event organizer’s or venue’s policies. You probably can’t get a ticket refund either.

Intoxication is often against the terms and conditions as described above. Concert venues that serve alcohol know how to monitor the crowd for drunkenness. Like a regular bar, they can choose to refuse service to guests, and they can kick you out of the concert for bad behavior due to intoxication. Drunk concertgoers are a liability risk for the businesses because someone could get hurt. 

Other misconduct that could reasonably get you kicked out of a concert includes:

• Starting a fight (assault or battery)
• Rowdy dancing, moshing, or crowd surfing
• Getting on the stage
• Throwing objects 
• Bringing in outside food, drink, or banned items
• Recording the concert against policy
• Smoking or vaping 

The exception is if security used drunkenness or other conduct as a pretext for discrimination. It can be hard to prove that you weren’t intoxicated, but the core legal issue in such a case isn’t necessarily about the alcohol. Rather, it’s about the discrimination. If you can prove the discriminatory treatment, you may be able to sue.

A Lawyer Could Help You

It’s one thing to get kicked out of a concert if you were a little wild and misbehaving. It’s harder to swallow if you think you didn’t do anything wrong. And it’s even worse if you are kicked out just because some security guard discriminates against you.

If you, a loved one, or a family member believes you were wrongfully ejected from a concert, you may want to meet with an experienced lawyer in your area. See a civil rights attorney if you believe you’ve been illegally discriminated against. Otherwise, a contracts lawyer could advise you about your legal rights and help you decide whether you should take legal action. If you were injured, a personal injury attorney can help with personal injury claims.