Judge sends StubHub class action to private arbitration

A proposed class action against StubHub and chief executive Eric Baker will now be decided behind closed doors. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff ordered the case into private arbitration, the process where a dispute is heard outside court by a neutral decision-maker, on September 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to Music Business Worldwide.

The order pauses the court case while arbitration runs. Judge Rakoff stayed proceedings pending completion of that process. He has not ruled on the substance of the claims.

The case was brought by Louis Sanquini, a New York ticket buyer. He sued StubHub and Baker on July 13 on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of buyers who received and used their tickets. The filing was reported as a proposed 5-million-dollar class action, according to CBC.

StubHub and Baker had asked the court for one of two outcomes. Compel arbitration. Or dismiss the complaint with prejudice for failure to state a claim. The judge granted the first request after hearing oral arguments from both sides on September 11, 2026.

He then denied the request to dismiss as moot, and did so without prejudice. That leaves the dismissal request set aside for now rather than decided.

The complaint was filed by Parness Law Firm, PLLC, with Keven Steinberg listed as lead counsel for Sanquini. The case is docketed as No. 1:26-cv-05880, according to court records.

For ticket buyers, this changes where the fight happens, not how it ends. A class action, a lawsuit brought by one buyer on behalf of a larger group, can lose momentum in arbitration because claims are often heard individually and in private. Here, the court has yet to test whether Sanquini’s allegations stand up.

Judge Rakoff said an opinion explaining the arbitration ruling will issue in due course.