YMD Records, LLC v. Ultra Enters., Inc.

361 F. Supp. 3d 1258
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 15, 2019
DocketNO.: 19-cv-20424-UU
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 361 F. Supp. 3d 1258 (YMD Records, LLC v. Ultra Enters., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
YMD Records, LLC v. Ultra Enters., Inc., 361 F. Supp. 3d 1258 (S.D. Fla. 2019).

Opinion

Ursula Ungaro, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon the Amended Complaint. D.E. 7.

THE COURT has considered the pertinent portions of the record and is otherwise fully advised in the premises. For the reasons discussed below, Rapture's Sherman Act claims are dismissed with prejudice, and its state-law claims are dismissed without prejudice.

On February 4, 2019, the Court dismissed Rapture's initial complaint sua sponte . D.E. 5. On February 12, Rapture filed the amended complaint, and it comes no closer to stating a claim than the first did. Rapture's amended complaint is little more than a list of reasons why Rapture thinks the Ultra music festival is no good. But the legal claims attached to that list are incidental; like a rickety soapbox, they serve no purpose other than to hoist Rapture's list of grievances into court and, from there, into the public's view.

The Sherman Act claims, in particular, are not proper claims for the facts alleged. They are, simply put, baseless. And the Court will not clutter its busy docket with a case that relies on the Sherman Act for federal jurisdiction when the facts, as stated and if proven, would clearly not amount to a restraint of trade, illegal monopolization, or a conspiracy within the meaning of the antitrust laws. The Court does not, however, take the position that Rapture could not possibly state a claim under some state law, and accordingly the Court will not dismiss the state law claims with prejudice.

BACKGROUND

These facts come from the amended complaint (D.E. 7) and, at this stage, are taken as true.

Plaintiff, YMD Records, ("Rapture"), produces the Rapture music festival, which for the past two years, has been held on Virginia Key in March. D.E. 7 ¶¶ 12, 13. Defendants Ultra Enterprises ("Ultra") and Event Entertainment Group ("EEG") run the Ultra music festival, which until September 2018, was held annually at the Bayfront Park in Miami. Id. ¶ 17. In September 2018, Ultra was forced to look for a new location after the city of Miami voted against Ultra returning to the Bayfront Park location. Id. ¶ 18.

In January 2018, Defendant Virginia Key Beach Trust (the "Trust"), published a letter from its executive director stating that the Trust welcomed a three-year plan for Rapture to perform at Virginia Beach Park and expressing the "intention [ ] for the event to be held at this venue for the next 3 years." Id. , ex. A. And so, on March 11, 2018, Rapture submitted its application to hold its music festival at Virginia Key Beach during the last weekend of March 2019. Id. , ex B. Then, in October 2018, Rapture paid its application fee and deposit for the beach park. Id. ¶ 44. Rapture expected that the City of Miami (the "City") would hold a hearing on its application in November 2018, as it had done in previous years. Id. ¶ 29. But City officials *1263told Rapture that its approval hearing would not occur in November.1 Id. ¶ 35.

Instead, in November, the City planning commission met and voted to allow Ultra to host its music festival on Virginia Key during the last weekend of March 2019. Id. ¶ 38. At that meeting, certain City officials misled the commission by saying that Rapture had not paid its deposit. Id. ¶ 41. Someone somehow prevented Rapture from correcting this error (the complaint does not say who or how). Id. ¶ 42. Sometime after this meeting, someone informed Rapture (again, the complaint does not say who) that there is no way for its application to be approved. Id. ¶ 48.

Rapture alleges that the City's approval of the Ultra music festival for the last weekend in March arose out of a meeting between Defendants in October 2018, to which Rapture was not invited. Id. ¶ 25. After that meeting, the City planning commission met to discuss the November hearing where they would vote on Ultra's application. Id. ¶ 31. At that meeting, certain City officials misled other officials2 by saying that Rapture's festival had been canceled or rescheduled. Id. ¶ 32.

Rapture alleges that the misleading information presented at the two commission meetings was part of a conspiracy between all Defendants to block Rapture from holding its festival. Id. ¶¶ 49, 50. It appears (although the amended complaint is far from clear) that the City and Trust conspired to block Rapture's festival because Ultra agreed to pay them a $ 2 million license fee. Id. ¶¶ 53, 54. As further evidence that the City and Trust were conspiring to replace Rapture's festival, Rapture alleges that the Ultra festival was disruptive, dirty, and bad for the "delicate environment" of Virginia Key. Id. ¶ 55. The decision to allow the Ultra festival at the "environmentally friendly" beach park, therefore, was "ridiculous[ ]" and "a signal of an antitrust violation and unfair competition." Id. ¶ 58.

Rapture alleges that this conspiracy caused it a litany3 of damages including lost relationships and goodwill with DJs, vendors, and ticket purchasers. Id. ¶¶ 82-98.

LEGAL STANDARD

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) provides that a plaintiff's pleading "must contain ... a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). The Supreme Court has stated that a plaintiff must submit "more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation." Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). In order "[t]o survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' " Id. (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ).

In considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the "plausibility standard is met only where the facts alleged enable 'the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.' " Simpson v. Sanderson Farms, Inc. , 744 F.3d 702

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Bluebook (online)
361 F. Supp. 3d 1258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ymd-records-llc-v-ultra-enters-inc-flsd-2019.