Cane Says
06-13-2002, 02:37 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Two companies accused of trying scalp Stanley Cup tickets will pay fines and quit selling tickets to North Carolina events at illegally inflated prices, the state attorney general said Thursday.
“Corporate ticket scalpers who profit at the expense of our fans should expect to pay the price,” Attorney General Roy Cooper said. “These companies are now going to have to play by the same rules as everyone else.”
The companies were selling tickets to the National Hockey League championship series between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Detroit Red Wings.
Under terms of the settlement signed Thursday, Premiere Tickets and Tours Inc. of Cary will pay $25,000 in civil penalties. Another ticket company, Empire Entertainment and Travel Inc. of Atlanta will pay $10,000. All civil penalties won by the state go to public schools.
In addition, the companies have agreed not to sell tickets to North Carolina events at more than $3 over face value, the maximum price allowed by North Carolina law.
Premiere may continue to sell ticket packages as long as the ticket price does not violate the law and the cost of the package is reasonable.
Wake County Judge Donald Stephens also entered preliminary injunctions Thursday that require three companies that have not settled with the Attorney General to comply with the law.
Cooper alleged in the lawsuit filed June 5 that Empire, Premiere and four other ticket brokers — Ideal Ticket Agency Inc. of Cleveland, Encore Tickets Inc. of Dallas, Ticket Solutions Inc. of Overland Park, Kansas, and Padgett Business Services of Johnson County Inc. of Prairie Village, Kansas — broke North Carolina’s unfair and deceptive trade practices law.
Cooper announced Monday that Encore Tickets had turned over the 100 Stanley Cup tickets in its possession. Those tickets were distributed to local charities.
“Corporate ticket scalpers who profit at the expense of our fans should expect to pay the price,” Attorney General Roy Cooper said. “These companies are now going to have to play by the same rules as everyone else.”
The companies were selling tickets to the National Hockey League championship series between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Detroit Red Wings.
Under terms of the settlement signed Thursday, Premiere Tickets and Tours Inc. of Cary will pay $25,000 in civil penalties. Another ticket company, Empire Entertainment and Travel Inc. of Atlanta will pay $10,000. All civil penalties won by the state go to public schools.
In addition, the companies have agreed not to sell tickets to North Carolina events at more than $3 over face value, the maximum price allowed by North Carolina law.
Premiere may continue to sell ticket packages as long as the ticket price does not violate the law and the cost of the package is reasonable.
Wake County Judge Donald Stephens also entered preliminary injunctions Thursday that require three companies that have not settled with the Attorney General to comply with the law.
Cooper alleged in the lawsuit filed June 5 that Empire, Premiere and four other ticket brokers — Ideal Ticket Agency Inc. of Cleveland, Encore Tickets Inc. of Dallas, Ticket Solutions Inc. of Overland Park, Kansas, and Padgett Business Services of Johnson County Inc. of Prairie Village, Kansas — broke North Carolina’s unfair and deceptive trade practices law.
Cooper announced Monday that Encore Tickets had turned over the 100 Stanley Cup tickets in its possession. Those tickets were distributed to local charities.