N.J. judge dismisses lawsuit over concert-ticket sales
The state said two Web companies violated the Consumer Fraud Act. The judge disagreed.
NEWARK, N.J. - A New Jersey judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by the state against two concert-ticket resellers over their sale of tickets to Bruce Springsteen shows at Giants Stadium last year.
The companies - Orbitz Worldwide and TicketNetwork Direct - were accused of violating the state's Consumer Fraud Act by offering tickets before they were made available to the public, some of which they allegedly did not possess at the time or which did not correspond to actual seats in the stadium.
In a 19-page ruling filed Aug. 26 and mailed to the parties, state Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello wrote that a 1996 federal law preempts state law and protects the companies from liability for statements or claims made by third parties on their websites.
Neither company possessed any tickets for sale, but instead provided an Internet marketplace for independent ticket sellers.
"This is a very important decision that has never been presented to courts in New Jersey before," Peter Harvey, a former New Jersey attorney general who represented TicketNetwork, said Tuesday. "The question was, if a ticket seller makes a mistake in the description of the item being sold, does the provider have liability for that, and the answer is no."
According to court documents, an investigator for the state Division of Consumer Affairs bought tickets May 26, six days before Ticketmaster began selling tickets to the public.
On the website, TicketNetwork and Orbitz notified prospective customers that the companies did not guarantee the accuracy of ticket information listed on the site. TicketNetwork's policy was to prohibit sellers from offering tickets they didn't possess or have a legal right to sell.
A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said the office was reviewing the ruling.
The lawsuit was brought a few months after then-Attorney General Anne Milgram reached a settlement with Ticketmaster over complaints that Springsteen fans were redirected to a subsidiary website that offered tickets for as much as hundreds of dollars above face value.