State hears ticket-scalping complaint

A state hearing officer yesterday showed little sympathy for a ticket broker's claim that legal technicalities bar a consumer's complaint about tickets being resold illegally at many times face value.

The complaint was filed by Dorchester consumer activist Colman Herman against Higs Cityside Tickets Inc. of Boston. Yesterday's action appears to be the first time the state Department of Public Safety has ever held a disciplinary hearing involving one of the ticket resellers it licenses and regulates.

Herman argued that Higs Cityside violated the state's antiscalping law last year by offering to sell him a Boston Red Sox ticket with a face value of $130 for $825 and a John Mayer concert ticket with a face value of $44 for $330.

The antiscalping law requires people in the business of reselling tickets to be licensed and bars them from charging more than $2 above face value, plus certain service charges and business expenses.

"On its face, that's a clear violation of the state's antiscalping law," Herman told hearing officer Antoinette Rodney , who usually hears complaints about building code violations. Herman has urged Rodney to discipline Higs Cityside.

But Robert L. Allen Jr. , the attorney for Higs Cityside, said a violation of the antiscalping law is triggered only if tickets are actually sold for more than the legal amount. In his testimony, Herman said he never actually purchased the tickets.

Rodney, the hearing officer, refused to dismiss the complaint and said she'll issue a decision within 60 days. She also ignored a series of procedural objections raised by Allen, who said Rodney was changing the rules of the hearing process to the detriment of his client.

"We're talking about the livelihood of two individuals here," he said.

Michael Deamicis , one of the two owners of Higs Cityside, testified that his website last year did offer a $130 Green Monster ticket to a Red Sox-Baltimore Orioles game for $825. But Deamicis said the ticket didn't belong to him and he didn't know who actually owned it. He indicated many brokers list tickets on their websites that belong to other brokers.

The 1924 antiscalping law, after years of being ignored, is suddenly the center of controversy. In addition to his complaint against Higs Cityside, Herman is suing Admit One Ticket Agency Inc. of Weymouth in Quincy District Court. Boston police are also arresting ticket scalpers around Fenway Park, and the New England Patriots are suing StubHub Inc., a San Francisco ticket reseller, in Suffolk Superior Court.

After the hearing, Herman dismissed the legal challenges by Higs Cityside. "Because they know they're wrong, they're looking for hypertechnicalities to weasel out of obeying the law and being held accountable," he said.

Allen noted that those "technicalities" are real and make the Herman complaint a poor test of the antiscalping law. He said there are many problems with the law.

"Clearly this is an issue that's going to have to be addressed by the Legislature," he said.

Lawmakers have filed a number of ticket-resale bills with proposals ranging from a $10 cap on mark ups to no restrictions at all on mark ups.

Bruce A. Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.