Thousands of
Hannah Montana fans who couldn't get concert
tickets could potentially join a lawsuit against the teen
performer's fan club over memberships they claim were supposed to
give them priority for seats.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a New Jersey woman and anyone
else who joined the Miley Cyrus Fan Club based on its promise that
joining would make it easier to get concert tickets from the teen
star's Web site.
Cyrus, 14, is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and
star of the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana TV show.
Her sold-out "Best of Both Worlds Tour" is the hottest concert
ticket of the year, with shows selling out in as little as four
minutes and scalpers getting four or five times face value.
The class-action lawsuit names Interactive Media Marketing Inc.
and Smiley Miley Inc. as defendants and seeks triple damages for
all members of the lawsuit and attorneys' fees. The plantiff
doesn't yet know the size of the class, but based on the popularity
of the Web site, it could number tens of thousands of people,
according to the lawsuit.
"They deceptively lured thousands of individuals into purchasing
memberships into the Miley Cyrus Fan Club," plaintiffs' attorney
Rob Peirce said. His Pittsburgh firm and a Memphis firm filed the
suit Tuesday in US District Court in Nashville.
The fan club costs US$29.95 a year to join, according to the
lawsuit, which alleges that the defendants should have known that
the site's membership vastly exceeded the number of tickets.
Neither of the listed agents for the two companies based in
Nashville could be immediately reached for comment Tuesday. Message
left for Smiley Miley Inc. were not immediately returned.
Cyrus' publicist, Meghan Prophet, said in a statement that fan
club members had an opportunity to buy pre-sale tickets, and more
than 70,000 club members obtained them as a result of their
membership.
"The Mileyworld Web site expressly states that Mileyworld does
not guarantee every member a concert ticket," Prophet said.
"Mileyworld members had far greater access to concert tickets than
the general public and other fan clubs, and the claim that the vast
majority of Mileyworld members were unable to obtain concert
tickets is simply false."
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Kerry Inman, a New Jersey
woman who claims that she tried to log into the site to buy tickets
to Cyrus' Atlantic City, N.J., performance at the moment the
tickets went on sale and was unsuccessful.
The Web site does not guarantee ticket availability, but
represents that members who log on shortly after tickets become
available will have a good opportunity to get them, according to
the lawsuit.
On TV, Cyrus plays high school student Miley Stewart, who lives
a secret double life as a famous pop star, Hannah Montana. Her show
reaches 5 million American viewers a week.
(Agencies via China Daily November 14, 2007)
