Detroit Lions fans sue over right to resell tickets
Detroit Lions fans are headed to court over the right to resell purchased tickets, reports the Detroit Free Press. A group of Lions fans have filed a class action lawsuit in federal court over the matter.
The lawsuit alleges that fans are getting fined by Detroit police while reselling tickets, even though doing so actually not illegal
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One of the plaintiffs in the case, Detroit attorney Neal Brand, argues that police fining fans trying to get rid of tickets is harassment.
"There's this squad of police officers out there trying to harass people who try to resell tickets," said Brand, who believes his class action could eventually include up to 150 plaintiffs. "There are many, many people who have pled guilty to this ... It's a shakedown or a cash grab. How hard is it to find two ticketholders waving tickets in the air?"
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Brand said that as long as tickets are resold under face value, police have no right to levy any sort of punishment. He also argued that Detroit police are wrongfully using a law that only applies to vendors without a license.
"In America, you can't just use any law you want or else you could arrest anyone for anything and use inapplicable laws," Brand said. "When a federal district judge says that it's lawful to sell tickets for face value or less, you can't turn around and (issue a ticket for it), that's a trampling of your rights."
- Jack Jorgensen
