TicketNetwork Lawsuit Goes Forward

A judge has determined a lawsuit TicketNetwork has filed against the Horace Bushnell Memorial Hall Corporation and its GM, David Fay, can proceed to trial.

The defendants were denied their motion to dismiss, according to a TicketNetwork statement. The ticket broker has accused Fay of making false and defamatory statements against the company during a Connecticut state legislative hearing earlier this year.

“We are pleased with the judge’s decision as this is the victory for the public,” TicketNetwork CEO Don Vaccaro said in a statement. “The outcome of this case demonstrates that truth outweighs fabrication of information in the court of law.”

Fay testified in front of Connecticut legislators on a bill that would set new rules on ticketing. One of the statements is that TicketNetwork uses computers to put tickets on hold to resell at inflated prices.

Fay declined to comment to Pollstar but in April he issued a statement to the Hartford Courant: “We think it is very unfortunate that Mr. Vaccaro and TicketNetwork are seeking to quash our discussion of the ticket scalping/broker business. … We believe this is in the intent of this lawsuit.”

First Amendment lawyer Daniel Klau told the paper he did not expect the lawsuit to be ultimately successful.

“The general rule is that statements made during testimony in a legislative proceedings are privileged, absolutely privileged.”

TicketNetwork issued the following: “The real winner here is the public, because they will have assurances that public testimony in the Legislature is honest and based in truth and fact rather than falsehoods and innuendo.”