Bogus Scalping Arrest Doesn't Merit Immunity

Court House News Service ^ | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 | By TIM HULL

[redreno]

(CN) - A Nevada father arrested for trying to sell tickets outside of a fair with his children can file suit because scalping is not illegal in the state and a sheriff's deputy charged hum under an obscure law dredged from the "bowels of a library," the 9th Circuit ruled. Woshoe County Deputy Sheriff James Forbus arrested Hershell Rosenbaum in 2006 outside of the Nevada State Fair in Reno for "abuse, neglect or endangerment of a child, and obtaining money under false pretenses," according to the ruling. Rosebaum was trying to sell two promotional tickets to the fair that he won from the KOZZ radio station. Forbus was wearing a KOZZ T-shirt and had his two young children, ages 6 and 8, in tow.

[Sacajaweau]

Never understood the premise for “scalping is illegaL”.

[SkyDancer]

Gestapo cops at it again making taxpayers pay for his incompetence. He should have to pay out of his own pocket.

[redreno]

He will now that the court ruled that he isn’t covered by immunity.

[SkyDancer]

Be nice to hear of a followup on this.

[fhayek]

I’m with Stossel on this one. You can get great tickets by standing hours in line, or paying someone who has done the waiting for you and charges you for the service. Who, in the name of the Great Googly Moogly is hurt by scalping?

[2111USMC]

Here's the money line from the judge:

If it were so, officers could arrest without a warrant under virtually any set of facts and later search the legal archives for a statute that might arguably justify."

[nascarnation]

We have a ghetto resident or two plugged every night and robberies galore, but the city council is all worried about ticket scalping for the upcoming 2012 Super Bowl.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I think it gets back to some attempt to show compassion for the little guy who might not be able to afford tickets if they were all bought up by scalpers and resold at higher prices. To me, it’s antithetical to freedom. If I purchase a ticket, the ticket is mine, and it’s a thing of value that I should be able to sell at whatever price someone is willing to freely pay me for it. The fact that people will pay inflated prices to a scalper is simply a sign that there’s inadequate supply to meet the demand.

[expat1000]

All laws should have a 10 year sunset clause. Make the politicians stand up and say “Aye” for renewing it every 10 years, and be accountable.

[SaraJohnson]

So what happens to the king cop who tried to set him up with false charges?

[Alberta's Child]

In some states, anti-scalping laws were put in place solely to protect sports teams, concert promoters, and venue operators. The rationale was that a baseball team, for example, might sell 35,000 tickets to a game and still have 10,000 unsold tickets. If some fans arrive to buy tickets at the gate, the anti-scalping law prevents them from buying tickets that were among the 30,000 already sold instead of buying some of the unsold tickets.

I believe New York was one place where this was the case. This is why (at one time, at least) the state law against scalping tickets did not apply in cases where an event was sold out.

[redreno]

He can be sued in court. If the court awards damages, he’ll have to pay it. The tax payers in the county won’t be opening their wallets for this one.