New hearing for Ticketmaster denied

Arkansas high-court ruling clears way for ticket-scalping suit to proceed

— The state Supreme Court will not give Ticketmaster another chance to argue that it is not subject to the state’s ticket-scalping law, which will allow a lawsuit pending in federal court to go forward.

Arkansas Code Annotated 5-63-201 makes it illegal for “any person, corporation, firm, or partnership” to charge more for a ticket to a musical event than the box office sale price plus any “reasonable charge” for handling and credit card use.

Last month, the state Supreme Court ruled that that law applies to Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, which bought Ticketmaster in 2010.

The court’s ruling was in response to question posed by U.S. Judge James Moody in the course of a lawsuit brought last year by Corey McMillan of Arkadelphia.

McMillan bought four tickets to a Jason Aldean concert at Verizon Arena through Ticketmaster. Though the price printed on each ticket was $42.75, he ended up paying $55.15 for each ticket after a $2 facility charge, a $9.40 convenience charge, and a $4 processing fee were added in.

McMillan sued Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, alleging a violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act with its fees.

Moody asked the court whether the scalping law applied to exclusive agents who sell music entertainment tickets for public facilities such as Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

The justices ruled in a 4-3 opinion that it did, though they did not express an opinion about whether the specific fees charged by Ticketmaster were illegal, or whether they could be considered reasonable handling charges. The justices also did not determine if violating the scalping law is an unfair trade practice under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Ticketmaster had argued that it is acting as the box office when it sells tickets online for a venue, as it does for Verizon Arena. Therefore, the ticket company argued, its sale price becomes the box office and the additional fees do not violate the law.

But in the majority opinion, Justice Karen Baker wrote that the “plain and ordinary” meaning of a box office is a booth where tickets are sold, and that Ticketmaster does not meet that standard.

Asking for a rehearing, Ticketmaster argued that this interpretation was too narrow.

“That finding ignores the reality of today’s commercial environment, in which event tickets are virtually always made available on the Internet, and often are only available through electronic means,” the company argued in its petition.

Todd Turner, an attorney who represents McMillan, said Ticketmaster was just rehashing arguments it had already brought up, and therefore should not get a rehearing.

The court did not issue a written ruling explaining why it denied the petition for rehearing.

At the Supreme Court, the case 11-732, Corey McMillan, individually and on behalf of a class of similarly situated persons v. Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC.

Arkansas, Pages 17 on 05/25/2012

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