Title: Estell v. City of Birmingham

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

286 So. 2d 872 (1973)
In re Bobby Joe ESTELL
v.
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM.
Ex parte CITY OF BIRMINGHAM, a municipal corporation.
SC 477.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
December 6, 1973.
*873 William C. Walker, Birmingham, for petitioner.
Richard L. Taylor, Birmingham, for appellee.
McCALL, Justice.
The City's application for a writ of certiorari to the Court of Criminal Appeals in this case was granted because a decision of that court initially held invalid an ordinance of the City of Birmingham. Supreme Court Rule 39, Revised Rules of Practice in the Supreme Court, Appendix to Tit. 7, Code of Alabama, Recompiled 1958, Cummulative P.P.
Among other prohibitions, Section 6-45 of the Birmingham, Alabama, General Code, Chap. 6, Art. V (1964), declares it to be unlawful for any person to sell or dispose of a ticket to a theatrical performance, show, exhibition or entertainment of any name or nature at a higher price for admission than that advertised by the proprietor or manager. This section also declares it to be unlawful to sell any such ticket without the prices having first been advertised and posted.
Section 6-48 of the same code is of similar import and declares it to be unlawful to sell or offer for sale a ticket to a theatrical performance, show, exhibition, baseball game, football game or other entertainment at a greater price than advertised or sold by the manager of the event.
Bobby Joe Estell was convicted of violating the ordinance, he being found guilty of selling tickets to a football game to be played in Birmingham, at a greater price than the management had advertised and first sold the tickets.
The sections of the ordinance that are here involved and the stipulation of fact agreed upon by the parties are fully set out in the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals in the case of Estell v. City of Birmingham, 51 Ala.App. 462, 286 So. 2d 866 (decided June 29, 1973).
We have carefully considered the opinion, rendered by that court in the case, and are in agreement with the result that the activity engaged in by the defendant, Estell, in reselling football tickets at a greater price than that advertised by the proprietor or manager of the football game was not so affected with a public interest as to be the subject of a price fixing regulation under the police power of the City of Birmingham.
There probably are no fewer people affected by the varieties of public entertainment which could come within the purview of the instant ordinance, than are affected, in the same locality, in a different manner, *874 by milk production which comes under the protection of the State's Milk Control Act. Tit. 22, § 205 et seq., Code of Alabama, Recompiled 1958, as amended. The business of producing and selling milk to the general public, though, is a business held by this court to vitally affect the public interest, which is tantamount to saying, "subject to the exercise of the police power," and to regulation and control, even to the extent of fixing prices. Franklin v. State, 232 Ala. 637, 169 So. 295. The vast difference between the ways in which public entertainment and milk affect the public is not arguable. Each affects the public to a great degree, but in a different manner. As to their relative attributes of importance, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to equate the two, because their qualities of value are so different. In ultimate importance to life, the two have a common ring, the tone of which is the betterment of life. In common parlance, one of these subjects would hardly be given preference over the other in considering what is in the "public interest" and the domain over which each sways. We have yet to find in this state, however, where the business of the resale of tickets for admission to places of public entertainment has been held to involve the "public interest."
Franklin v. State, 232 Ala. 637, 169 So. 295, is not an applicable authority for holding here that the public interest is involved, because there we were dealing with a legislative act fixing prices in the milk industry, which is a business recognized to be affected with a public interest.
In Simonetti, Inc. v. State, 272 Ala. 398, 132 So. 2d 252, the basic holding is that a legislative act (Unfair Cigarette Sales Act, Act. No. 805, Acts of Alabama, 1951) prohibiting the advertising, offering for sale and selling of cigarettes below cost, with intent to injure competitors and destroy, or substantially lessen, competition, is within the legislative province.
Neither in Franklin nor in Simonetti, both supra, was the court concerned with a situation comparable to the aspects of this case. Here we are dealing with a law that tells a person he is prohibited from reselling his admission tickets for a greater sum than the proprietor or the manager of the event sold them for, or, he will be prosecuted and punished.
In City Council of Montgomery v. Kelly, 142 Ala. 552, 558, 38 So. 67, we said:
We have pointed out that where the industry is affected with a "public interest" the legislature has power to regulate, Franklin v. State, supra; and, all public utilities are subject to state regulation. The legislature can also prohibit sales below cost, designed to injure or to destroy the business of a competitor. Simonetti, supra. The governing rule in this jurisdiction, as stated in Bulova Watch Co. v. Zale Jewelry Co., 274 Ala. 270, 271, 147 So. 2d 797, is:
We think it equally clear that the same rule applies in situations where the accused is charged with violating a law which makes it a criminal offense to sell an article or commodity at an excessive price. In State v. Goldstein, 207 Ala. 569, 572, 93 So. 308, this court cites with approval the case of People v. Steele, 231 Ill. 340, 83 N.E. 236, where the court held as unconstitutional an act prohibiting the sale of a ticket by the manager of a theatre without carrying on its face an inhibition against its resale at an advance, and prohibiting such a resale, or keeping a place for carrying on such a business. The court said in Steele, supra, p. 352, 83 N.E. p. 239:
In State v. Goldstein, supra, the act made it an offense for any dealer or any other person to sell or offer for sale any article or commodity of the classes named at a price which, in the estimation of a jury, would yield a grossly excessive profit to the seller. The court said:
In Goldstein, supra, p. 571, 93 So. p. 312, the court further observed:
The court also stated in Bulova Watch Co. v. Zale Jewelry Co., 274 Ala. 270, 272, 147 So. 2d 797, 799 as follows:
The business of barbering is not affected with a public interest, City of Mobile v. Rouse, 233 Ala. 622, 173 So. 266; Lisenba v. Griffin, 242 Ala. 679, 8 So. 2d 175, nor is the business of operating a gasoline filling station, Alabama Independent Service Station Assn. v. McDowell, 242 Ala. 424, 6 So. 2d 502.
The holding and judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed.
Affirmed.
HEFLIN, C. J., and MERRILL, COLEMAN, HARWOOD, BLOODWORTH, MADDOX, FAULKNER, and JONES, JJ., concur.