Wisconsin Judge Dismisses Ticket Suit Against UCLA

A judge for the Dane County Circuit Court in Madison, Wis., has dismissed a class-action lawsuit that had been filed against UCLA in the wake of a ticket controversy that left hundreds of Wisconsin football fans without tickets for last January’s Rose Bowl game.

The lawsuit stemmed from UCLA’s sale of 4,000 tickets to a single booster, Angelo Mazzone, in December. It claimed that because of that sale, among other things, a substantial number of tickets wound up with scalpers.

Because of an overwhelming and unexpected demand for tickets by Wisconsin fans, whose team had not been to the Rose Bowl in 31 years, ticket prices skyrocketed among scalpers and many Badger fans were left stranded at the Rose Bowl’s gates. The lawsuit against UCLA, on behalf of about 1,000 Wisconsin fans, sought compensation and punitive damages.

But the court ruled that UCLA could not be held responsible for the fans’ losses because the fans were not parties in a contract with the school.

Joseph D. Mandel, vice chancellor of legal affairs at UCLA, said he had been confident the school’s name would be cleared.

“We are delighted that the position we have consistently advanced has been vindicated,” Mandel said. “I am also delighted that the judge went through each argument of the plaintiffs’ and analyzed each and concluded that each was without merit.

“As we have said all along, it may be painful that some or all of those plaintiffs were defrauded in one fashion or another, but if they were defrauded, they were defrauded by unscrupulous travel agents and travel packagers and not by UCLA.”

The attorney for the plaintiffs, James Olson of the Madison law firm of Lawton and Cates, said his clients were disappointed by the judge’s decision.

“Just as in every Rose Bowl game, in every lawsuit there are winners and losers,” Olson said. “We are considering at this point whether to appeal.”

UCLA officials had defended their actions as legal under the Rose Bowl agreement, which governs ticket allocations for the game, since articles about the transaction with Mazzone appeared in The Times last spring.

But regardless of the appropriateness of UCLA’s actions under terms of the agreement, Judge P. Charles Jones ruled that fans who went to California with the promise from tour promoters that tickets awaited them were not parties in the Rose Bowl agreement and therefore had no basis for suing UCLA for any breach of that agreement.

“I do not believe any of the terms of the agreement manifest an intention that tour-package purchasers of Rose Bowl tickets are beneficiaries of the agreement with rights to recover damages from a breach of the agreement’s provisions,” Jones wrote in a memorandum decision issued Wednesday.

Jones added a footnote, however, criticizing UCLA’s actions.

“I firmly believe that the conduct of UCLA should not go unnoticed,” he wrote. “UCLA’s actions raise questions that should concern the Pac-10 and the Rose Bowl Tournament Committee.”

Although UCLA had no obligation to turn over excess tickets to Wisconsin under the current agreement, many Wisconsin fans believe that would have helped ease the situation.

Jack French, executive director of the Tournament of Roses committee, said conference and tournament representatives have met “many times” over the last year to discuss the issue, but have not decided if the allocation of tickets will be changed.

Under the agreement, the Pac-10 receives about 53% of the tickets, the Big Ten about 22%, with the remainder going to the tournament committee. Discussion has centered on changing those percentages, although French expressed reservations about the effectiveness of such a change.

“We are making a strong effort to educate the public that there are only limited tickets available and that they should be very cautious about what they buy and have some safeguards,” French said.

California Assemblywoman Dede Alpert (D--Coronado) already has established some safeguards in state law. Alpert is the author of a bill that requires ticket sellers to inform buyers that they actually possess the tickets they are selling and to specify how much they will cost. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson last month.