Federal Court Rejects Challenge to Ticketmaster Fees

A Canadian Federal Court ruling has narrowed the circumstances in which mandatory online ticket fees can qualify as illegal drip pricing. On September 22, 2026, Justice Gascon declined to certify a proposed class action against Ticketmaster, finding that fees displayed alongside ticket prices did not meet the legal criteria for concealed or subsequently added charges.

The decision in Kuling v. Ticketmaster could affect how Canadian consumers challenge additional charges when purchasing concert, sports, and entertainment tickets. According to national law firm Bennett Jones, the court identified concealment and sequence as two essential elements missing from the plaintiff's case.

The plaintiff had purchased two tickets initially priced at $74.50 each, but her total bill reached $190. By the time of the hearing, the lawsuit focused exclusively on a $2.50 order processing fee, which was displayed in bold immediately above the ticket price.

The court reasoned that charges presented simultaneously with the advertised price were not concealed or added later. Its decision also addressed the limits of federal requirements governing how businesses disclose total prices to consumers.

In explaining its reasoning, the court stated that ordinary purchasers are capable of basic arithmetic.

The ruling also established that federal law does not require sellers to display a single, all-inclusive price. Parliament could have introduced such a requirement when it amended the Competition Act in 2022, but did not do so, according to the court's reasoning.

The decision contrasts with a 2024 case involving Cineplex, in which Canada's Competition Tribunal ordered the entertainment company to pay more than $38.9 million in penalties over a mandatory $1.50 online booking fee.

In that case, the Competition Bureau, Canada's independent federal agency responsible for enforcing deceptive marketing laws, successfully challenged Cineplex's fee practices. The penalty matched the revenue generated by the booking fee between June 2022 and December 2023, according to the source report.

The differing outcomes highlight the importance of how and when mandatory charges appear during an online transaction. In the Ticketmaster case, the court focused on the simultaneous presentation of the processing fee and ticket price, while the Cineplex case resulted in a substantial penalty over its booking fee.