ALBANY, N.Y. (CelebrityAccess) TicketNetwork and Ticket Galaxy have filed two separate lawsuits, asking the state Supreme Court to shield them from a probe of their business practices by the office of state Attorney General Barbara Underwood.
The two secondary ticketing platforms want to preempt the attorney general’s office from pursuing a civil cast that seeks millions of dollars in penalties, according to the Times Union. Both companies have been engaged in negotiations for more than two years amid allegations they have promoted tickets that they didn’t yet possess.
“Speculative tickets harm both consumers and the industry as a whole – driving up ticket prices and defrauding consumers by leading them to believe they are buying an actual ticket, rather than making a bet on the seller’s ability to deliver the ticket for which they paid,” Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for Underwood, said in a statement. “We will respond to this baseless lawsuit in court, and will not be deterred in our efforts to protect New York fans.”
The companies argued in the court papers that speculative ticket sales are protected by state and federal law and they are in compliance with the laws.
“Online commerce would be severely negatively impacted, and consumers would see a decrease in competition and an increase in costs if the protections afforded to online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and innumerable others were selectively ignored,” TicketNetwork COO Mike Honeyman said in a statement.”We are asking the court to reaffirm that online marketplaces are protected under federal law, as it is apparent that the NYAG’s Office needs a reminder of this longstanding principle.”
The company said it filed the lawsuit after negotiations with the state reached an impasse.
