Statutory Claim On Disclosure Of Ticket Prices Dismissed For Failure To State A Cause of Action

On October 16, 2024, Justice Margaret A. Chan granted a music venue’s motion to dismiss a customer’s complaint alleging violation of a state statute concerning disclosure of ticket prices. The case is Frias v. City Winery New York, LLC, Index No. 651284/2024.

New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law (“NYACAL”) § 25.07(4) requires disclosure of “the total cost of the ticket, inclusive of all ancillary fees that must be paid in order to purchase the ticket . . . in the ticket listing prior to the ticket being selected for purchase”, and further requires that the price of the ticket shall not increase during the purchase process. Slip op., p. 4 (quoting statute).

The City Winery website shows users the "Date and Time" of upcoming events with a range of ticket prices for each, without reference to fees. If a user selects the “Buy Tickets” link, she is taken to a page offering the option to “Select Your Tickets”, where a seating chart appears and the price of each seating option can be obtained by hovering over it. When the user clicks on a given seating option, a pop up appears where the price is again set forth and a “ticket fee” is disclosed for the first time. The user then has the option of abandoning the transaction or proceeding to purchase by accepting the total price, including both the ticket price originally disclosed and the fee. Id., pp. 1-3.

City Winery argued that no violation of § 25.07(4) was stated because the full ticket price, inclusive of fees, was disclosed before payment. Plaintiff replied “that NYACAL imposes a ‘one-price requirement’ mandating that the price of a ticket shall not increase through the entire purchase Process”, such that “the full price of a ticket, including fees, must be disclosed in the first instance a ticket price is shown on a website.” Id., p. 4 (quoting plaintiff’s opposition brief.)

Justice Chan agreed with defendant, and found that the plain meaning of the statute made recourse to its legislative history unnecessary:

Although the statute does not define ‘purchase,’ the Black's Law Dictionary defines that term to mean the ‘act or instance of buying’ . . . Therefore, ascribing the statute's plain and unambiguous terms their usual and commonly understood meaning, the disclosure requirements of NYACAL § 25.07(4) can be stated as follows: an operator or operator’s agent must disclose the entire cost of a ticket, including fees, at some point prior to the customer choosing to buy the ticket on the website and proceeding with the ticket sales transaction.”

Id., p. 5. Review of the legislative history and related materials further confirmed that disclosure of the full price, including fees, was required only prior to the customer proceeding with the ticket sales transaction. Id., pp. 5-7.

City Winery’s website met this requirement, so its motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim was granted.

Contact the Commercial Division Blog Committee at commercialdivisionblog@schlamstone.com if you or a client have questions concerning the New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law or other statutory claims.