IMP Wants WME Docs

William Morris Endeavor has been subpoenaed to turn over documents regarding a lawsuit filed last year by Seth Hurwitz’s It’s My Party and It’s My Amphitheatre against Live Nation.

Hurwitz, a strong opponent of the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, filed suit in March 2009 alleging LN had used its market power to discourage artists from performing at non-Live Nation venues such as the Merriweather Post Pavilion that he books in Columbia, Md.

In November 2009, IMP served William Morris Endeavor with a subpoena seeking documents it claimed were critical to its antitrust suit against LN. However, the agency “served blanket objections and refused to produce any responsive documents.”

In its motion filed in U.S. District Court in California Sept. 29, IMP alleges it had attempted to ease the burden on the third party WME by limiting the scope of its subpoena to a group of 29 artists and by conferring multiple times with WME via teleconference, e-mail and letter.

WME has asked the court to quash the subpoena citing trade secrets and alleging IMP’s request places an undue burden on the agency as it “would require WME to produce nearly every document from its personal appearance department from 2006 to the present,” reportedly at a cost of more than $3 million.

“The issue is whether tour deals, that are tied to venues, are illegal,” Hurwitz told Pollstar. “We subpoenaed WME to obtain information we need about the tour deals to pursue these claims. Other agencies have complied. So there’s obviously something here that somebody doesn’t want out there.”

A hearing has been set in Los Angeles Nov. 17.