Lainer v. City of Boston

95 F. Supp. 2d 17 (2000)

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Lainer v. City of Boston

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
95 F. Supp. 2d 17 (2000)

Facts

Gary Lainer planned to attend a Boston Red Sox (club) game at Fenway Park (Fenway) with a friend. After the friend canceled at the last minute, Lainer tried to sell the friend’s $18 ticket at face value near the stadium. The purchaser gave Lainer a $20 bill, but before Lainer could provide change, he was arrested by two City of Boston (defendant) police officers for allegedly violating, among other things, Boston’s antiscalping law prohibiting “engaging in the business of selling any ticket” without a license. The charges against Lainer were dismissed a few days later. Lainer sued Boston and the commissioner of the Boston Police Department (BPD) (defendant) for illegal seizure, false arrest, and false imprisonment. Lainer sought a preliminary injunction against, among other things, BPD’s interpretation of the antiscalping statute to apply to all sales of the club’s tickets outside Fenway. Per Lainer, the antiscalping law barred only the unlicensed sale of tickets as a business venture, not an individual’s ad hoc sale of an excess ticket. Moreover, Lainer produced substantial evidence that BPD had a policy of arresting anyone it found selling tickets outside Fenway under any circumstances. BPD responded that any ticket resale is a commercial transaction and thus all resellers engage in the ticket-selling business under the antiscalping law. BPD further argued that the club’s ticket policy explicitly prohibited ticket resales and thus neither Lainer nor others could legally resell tickets to the club’s home games.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Tauro, J.)

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