A California federal judge has tossed for good negligence and fraud claims from a lawsuit by hundreds of Taylor Swift fans who allege Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC's anticompetitive conduct caused the Eras tour ticket sale "disaster," but kept alive breach of contract and antitrust claims.

In a 2-page order on Nov. 21, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu dismissed four separate claims of negligence, fraud and negligent misrepresentation without leave to amend, while allowing the plaintiffs to amend their breach of contract claim.

However, in keeping alive the contract claim, Judge Wu warned concertgoers that they must identify the specific contract terms and the nature of the alleged breach. He noted that he already asked the plaintiffs to be more specific in a prior order tossing the claim with leave to amend, and yet he is still "left to guess" what the terms of the contract are.

"The court will allow plaintiffs one last opportunity," the order said. "The court will caution plaintiffs, however, that it will not accept general references to supporting exhibits; Plaintiffs must identify the language from any exhibit cited that supports the existence of any alleged express term of the contract."

Judge Wu also declined to toss four additional antitrust claims under the Sherman Act, California's Cartwright Act and California's Unfair Competition Law.

The ruling keeps alive high-stakes litigation initially filed in 2022 in Los Angeles Superior Court by more than two dozen Swift fans who claim Ticketmaster engages in an anticompetitive scheme in which it forces fans to exclusively use its services to purchase tickets, so that it can set prices that are "above what a competitive market price would be." Ticketmaster also forces concertgoers to use its secondary ticket exchange when reselling tickets, they allege.

The state case was later removed to federal court, and several hundred more fans have since joined the litigation as plaintiffs. Although the case is not a proposed class action, the latest amended complaint, filed in July, names 364 plaintiffs who together assert a total of eight counts against the defendants, including exclusive dealing, unfair practices and monopolization in violation of Section 1 and Section 2 of the Sherman Act, California's Cartwright Act and California's Unfair Competition Law.

In August, the concertgoers voluntarily dismissed claims against a third defendant, StadCo LLC, which owns SoFi Stadium in Southern California, and that same month, the remaining defendants filed another motion to dismiss.

In his latest ruling, Judge Wu granted the motion in part. Despite multiple pleading rounds, the concertgoers have still failed to sufficiently allege the "who, what, when, where and how" details for each alleged misrepresentation, along with an explanation for why the statement was misleading or false, to support viable fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims, the judge said.

Judge Wu also held that the concertgoers' negligence claim is likely barred by the economic loss rule, which generally prevents a party to a contract from recovering for economic losses in tort law unless the party can show there was harm beyond a broken contractual promise.

Even if that rule didn't bar the negligence claim, the judge said he's "unpersuaded" by the concertgoers' suggestion that the defendants owe them a duty of care outside a contract based solely on the exclusive control of their online ticketing service, even if the companies knew of the unprecedented demand for tickets, Judge Wu concluded.

"Plaintiffs' reliance on the aftermath of the presales (i.e., defendants' purported failure to deliver on the promises they made) cannot support a plausible fraud theory," the order said.

Counsel for the parties and representatives for Live Nation and Ticketmaster didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

The lawsuit is one of several high-stakes legal disputes that Ticketmaster and Live Nation are facing over alleged antitrust violations, including lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, several states and Washington, D.C.

The plaintiffs are represented by John M. Genga of Genga & Associates PC and Jennifer A. Kinder of Kinder Law PLLC.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster are represented by Timothy L. O'Mara, Alicia R Jovais, Robin L. Gushman and Samuel R. Jeffrey of Latham & Watkins LLP.

The case is Julie Barfuss et al. v. Live Nation Entertainment Inc. et al., case number 2:23-cv-01114, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.