Dear Phoenix — I just met this hottie and I bought us Janet Jackson tickets at the FleetCenter. But I’m not very good with relationships. So say my summer fling dumps me before the show. Can I legally resell the ticket outside the venue at face value? Thx =)

Worried Janet Lover

WJL, good question. Here’s the back-story: in July of 1999, three policemen arrested Canton veterinarian Greg Lainer outside Fenway Park for selling his spare $18 Sox ticket at face value. Lainer filed a class-action suit against the Boston Police Department. The following April, US District Court judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled in Lainer’s favor, awarding him $55,000 for attorneys’ fees and damages. Tauro’s ruling prevents police from arresting any “innocent fan” outside Fenway Park who is reselling a ticket for face value or less.

Answers to frequently asked questions about this topic:

Does that ruling apply to concert tickets? Lainer’s lawyer, Robert Medillo, says it does. “The principle set forth in Lainer’s case should apply to any ticket.... You should be able to stand outside Symphony Hall with your $85 Diana Ross ticket and the police should not arrest you.”

But I heard something about cops telling the press that they are still arresting resellers. Back in April, the Boston Globe quoted a sergeant as saying that “it’s still a crime to resell” and resellers “might be arrested.” But the Boston Police Department has changed its tune. “It is legal to resell a ticket for face value or lower,” confirms spokesman Kevin Jones. “The police department’s policy upholds the terms of the court’s injunction.”

What if someone like that clueless sergeant tries to arrest me? Attorney Martin Rosenthal, a vocal proponent of reforming the anti-scalping law, says that if you’re going to resell an unused ticket, you should “have a lawyer’s phone number in your pocket.”

It’ll be bad enough if Chris from Marketing dumps me. But on top of that, you expect me to leaf through a phone book and pick a lawyer before I resell the ticket? Screw that. Should you get stuck with a last-minute extra and want to resell it for face value or lower (don’t say we didn’t stress the importance of not turning a profit), here are a few suggestions to avoid being mistaken for a gum-chomping, ticket-fanning, billfold-bulging scalper.

• Don’t accost passers-by, repeatedly stringing the words “buying and selling” together. The anti-scalping law of 1924 criminalizes anyone who’s unlicensed and involved in the “business of reselling.” Chances are if you’re buying and selling, the police may decide that you’re engaged in a businesslike activity.

• Don’t use words like “pulling a fast one,” “scam,” or “scalp.” (And under no circumstances should you call your buyer “a big freakin’ sucker” after he or she walks away.) You wouldn’t walk into a smoke shop and call a water-filtration device a “bong,” so don’t stigmatize yourself in this endeavor with comparably sullied terms.

• Don’t seek advice from your friendly neighborhood ticket broker. Sometimes they’re misinformed (“Technically speaking, it’s illegal [to resell tickets at face value],” insists Nathan, a Seacoast Ticket Agency employee), and sometimes a broker’s desire to make a whopping profit on your extra taints his objectivity. “It is legal now, but I personally wouldn’t do it,” says Matt from Ace Ticket in Brookline. “The police could pin something else on you, like unlawfully occupying a street corner. You’d be better off selling the ticket to a broker — say, someone like me.”

Issue Date: May 24 - 31, 2001