Photo: 123RF
Global ticket reseller Viagogo has told the Court of Appeal that it did not mislead consumers.
Last year it lost its lengthy legal battle with the Commerce Commission after being found to have repeatedly misled customers over its status as an official outlet.
The company is appealing parts of that decision.
On Tuesday in the Court of Appeal, Viagogo's lawyer Aaron Lloyd told the court it had not misled consumers about being a resale platform.
He told the court he believed some of the analysis in the judgement by High Court judge, Justice Peters, was a bit thin and she had insufficient reasoning to reach some of her conclusions.
He said it was difficult to see how an objective person would be misled into thinking Viagogo was a primary ticket seller.
When challenged on the assertion by Justice Matthew Palmer, Lloyd said the website said on it that it was the largest for "secondary sell-off of tickets", though Justice Peters in the original High Court judgement had not been persuaded that was enough.
But that was far from his only criticism of Justice Peter's judgement.
While discussing her potential reasoning with Justice Jillian Mallon, he told her, "You've almost done more analysis and more reasoning for her honour than she did herself in the judgement in that regard just there."
Viagogo first came under scrutiny after people began complaining of being left out of pocket after unknowingly buying fake tickets.
The High Court judgement said about 9600 complaints had been made to Viagogo between July 2016 and August 2019 for a number of issues, including Viagogo's guarantee, late disclosure of fees and not realising it was a resale platform.
But Lloyd said Justice Peters gave the sheer number of complaints too much weight.
"We say it is impossible for you to think that the sheer number of complaints is relevant unless you are making an assumption about the underlying accuracy or truth of it," he told the court.
"It does not matter one hoot if you have a million complaints, if the complaints are all mistaken or false or incorrect."
Viagogo's lawyer Aaron Lloyd. Photo: Krystal Gibbens / RNZ
Both Viagogo and the Commerce Commission are appealing on the High Court's decision on whether it is unfair for Viagogo to be governed by Swiss law. The earlier court decision found only part of the company's clause requiring matters to be resolved in court in Geneva to be an unfair contract term.
Lloyd said this "inconsistency" was "problematic".
"The High Court erred in finding that the first part of the clause was an unfair contract term," he said. "But we say that your honour was right to uphold effectively the choice of law aspect of it."
The Commerce Commission is cross appealing the decision.
At the time Viagogo announced it would appeal, the Commerce Commission said it would strongly defend against it.
It said the case was about holding a global business to account for the harm they were causing in New Zealand - and paving the way for individuals to have the ability to stand up for their consumer rights against international companies.
The Commission began making its case on Tuesday afternoon and will finish on Wednesday.
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