Law Times

Page 4 September 11, 2017 • Law timeS www.lawtimesnews.com NEWS NEWS NEWS Lawyer takes on Blue Jays over online ticketing BY ALEX ROBINSON Law Times A Toronto lawyer who is taking on the Toronto Blue Jays over online ticket-selling practices that he says discriminate against disabled people is now calling on the provincial government to act. Andrew Sprague is a disabled lawyer who requires a service dog with him at all times, and when he attends baseball games at the Rogers Centre with his sons, this means he requires ac- cessible seating. But he has not always been able to buy tickets for such seating online to Blue Jays games. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario is set to hear an appli- cation in October that Sprague filed against the Blue Jays and Ticketmaster Canada. He is hoping the provincial government will also step in to ensure that disabled people will be able to buy the tickets they need online. Sprague recently sent an open letter to Ontario Attorney Gen- eral Yasir Naqvi asking that the proposed Ticket Sales Act con- tain provisions that would make it an offence for event ticket sellers to discriminate against people with disabilities through ticket sales. He says having such a protec- tion would make it a lot easier for people affected by the issue, as they would not have to file a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal every time a similar situation arises. They could simply alert the necessary authorities to charge someone who violates the law. "There isn't me having to initiate civil litigation, which is very time consuming to resolve an issue," he says. Sprague first brought an ap- plication to the HRTO after he was unable to buy tickets online for accessible seats for the 2016 regular season and playoffs. He later filed a second application. In the run-up to the 2017 regular season, he was optimis- tic that he would be able to buy tickets online, but again he was unable to do so. Sprague requires his service dog, Flicka, as he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He says that it has been a big or- deal sometimes to get tickets to some games over the phone. "I don't want to spend four hours of my day trying to buy tickets to take my son to a base- ball game on a Saturday," he says. "I want to log in and within a minute or two minutes have my tickets and be done with it." Sprague says that as of June 2, the Blue Jays and Ticketmaster have made such tickets available for purchase online for the rest of the season, but he says they have not committed to making them available online permanently. He says that not selling such tickets online means disabled people do not have equal oppor- tunity. "By offering for sale, over the internet, tickets for general ad- mission seats but not offering for sale, over the internet, tickets for accessible seats, some primary ticket sellers are discriminating against persons with disabilities because persons with disabili- ties are not being provided with comparable services that are be- ing offered to persons without disabilities," he says. Sprague says that while there are remedies available under the Ontario Human Rights Code for when people face discrimin- ation, a legislative solution makes sense, as someone with a disability who is not legally trained could have a difficult time withstanding the rigours of litigation at the HRTO. The provincial government announced its proposed new ticket rules through the Ticket Sales Act in June that would ban ticket bots, cap the resale price of tickets and establish new en- forcement measures. Sprague is hoping that the government would make it un- lawful to not provide the same ticket services for people who re- quire accessible seating as those that are available for people who do not have disabilities. Sprague says he was not satis- fied with a response he received from Naqvi's office, as it simply "regurgitated" a press release that Sprague had referenced in his letter. "The ministry just blew me off," he says. In an emailed statement, Andrew Rudyk, a spokesman for Naqvi, said the government believes that everyone should be treated fairly. "Accessible customer service is about understanding that people with disabilities may have different needs and finding the best ways to help them access goods, services or facilities," he said in the statement. "Venue accessibility issues are covered under other statutes and regulations, such as the Acces- sibility for Ontarians with Dis- abilities Act, 2005 and the Inte- grated Accessibility Standards Regulation." Sprague says he hopes to get a decision out of the Human Rights Tribunal that declares that such conduct is discrimina- tory under the Human Rights Code. He says this would be benefi- cial so that he can share it with ticket sellers to show them that the practice has been officially ruled to be unlawful. In his HTRO applications, Sprague is seeking an order that requires the Blue Jays and Ticketmaster hire independent third-party experts to help them develop and implement "appro- priate human rights and access- ibility policies" within 90 days, that they will then train and educate their workers about on an ongoing basis. He is also asking the HRTO to order the respondents to au- dit this ongoing education and training. In January, the Human Rights Tribunal issued an inter- im ruling that said parties can- not contract out of their human rights and the Human Rights Code. Stuart Svonkin, the lawyer representing Ticketmaster in the matter, did not respond to a re- quest for comment. Arlen Sternberg, the lawyer representing the Blue Jays, de- clined to comment as the appli- cation is still pending before the tribunal. Sprague says the issue goes beyond just baseball games, as it's also an issue for other Tick- etmaster events and venues not related to Ticketmaster. LT Andrew Sprague says not selling tickets online for accessible seating is discrimina- tory. © 2017 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited 00246UU-89009-NP NEW Enhanced Texts and Annotations Library for Authored Commentary The enhanced Texts and Annotations Library on WestlawNext Canada allows you to intuitively browse and search texts and annotations, as well as the Thomson Reuters Canada collection of eLooseleafs on ProView. All this content is integrated and displayed on one page. You can narrow your search using multiple filters to search by eLooseleaf titles only, texts and annotations on WestlawNext Canada only, or both. 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