The New York Yankees have notched a courtroom victory in a challenge to online ticket sale practices. A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed a deceptive practices suit filed by a ticket buyer against the team, StubHub, and its parent, eBay. Plaintiff Andrea Weinstein alleged that the defendants violated New York state laws requiring event tickets be printed with the face value of the tickets and ticket sellers be licensed and identified. Ms. Weinstein bought six outfield seats to the June 25, 2010, game between the Yankees and the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium on StubHub after she could not get tickets through the team’s website. Ms. Weinstein, who stated she was directed to the StubHub site from the Yankees’ site, said she paid $33 per ticket, along with a $19.80 service fee and a $4.95 electronic fee, even though the face value of each ticket turned out to be only $20.
Southern District Judge John Keenan was unsympathetic. He suggested in Weinstein v. eBay Inc., 10 Civ. 8310, that StubHub clients would have to be stupid not to realize they were paying a premium for reissued tickets, and that Ms. Weinstein could have looked up the face value of her tickets easily on the Yankees’ site. The judge also found that StubHub had posted explicit disclaimers that ticket prices are set by sellers and might differ from a ticket’s face value. He rejected the argument that the Yankees were responsible for ticket sales on StubHub, writing: “There is simply no way the Yankees can police each and every third party ticket sale.” He also held that StubHub was exempt from the law’s registration requirement.
