Verizon Arena has settled a $155,000 lawsuit with two music fans that claimed the Little Rock, Arkansas venue made an illegal deal with Ticketmaster.
Keith and Sharon Watkins settled with the Multi-Purpose Center Facilities Board of Pulaski County, which owns and operates the 18,000-capacity arena earlier this month, after originally filing the suit in 2014.
The board is set to dish out $150,000 to the couple for legal fees, plus a $5,000 “incentive award.”
Ticketmaster charged an additional convenience fee on each ticket bought for an event at the arena. The company was also allowed to charge a $3.75 processing per each order, according to a 2009 version of the contract.
Depending on the year and version of the contract, the board receives a sales royalty of 40-50 per cent of each fee.
Attorneys representing the Watkins family argued that the charges “do not bear any relationship to the cost of any service being provided nor are they related to a patron’s use of the Arena.
“Instead, these charges result in profit, which is split between the Facilities Board and Ticketmaster.”
According to the Arkansas Democrat–Gazette newspaper, both parties listed litigation fees as a reason why they settled. The board did not admit to any wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement.
Ticketmaster customers at the arena from September 18, 2011, through to December 31, 2015, are entitled to a $4 discount coupon, the settlement says.
The board is also required to “open the door to a competitive bidding process” when its contract with Ticketmaster ends in 2023.
The attorneys representing the Watkinses previously filed two lawsuits against Verizon Arena for ticketing fees.
One of those cases reached the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2012. The justices in that case ruled that Ticketmaster violated the state’s ticket scalping law by charging more than box office prices. The case was later dismissed when it went to federal court.
Image: Martin Fisch
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