Magic moments

If you can't put a price on magic, why is it something you are able to go to court over?

“For me, it was not simply a question of breach of contract,” Bagneris testified. “It was also a matter of disrespect. We felt disrespected.”

The perks, and the status those perks afforded – such as watching performances from onstage – are nice, too, he said: “You can’t put a price tag on those kinds of magic moments. That’s the irreparable harm.”

Is that what this is about? Magic moments and feeling disrespected?  Or is it something else? 

But in an appeal filed Friday with Louisiana’s 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, the foundation’s attorneys argue that Sheppard erred in granting the injunction. The foundation requested expedited consideration from the 4th Circuit, given that the 2022 Jazz Fest opens April 29. No hearing date has been set on the appeal.

If Sheppard’s preliminary injunction remains in place, the foundation must provide Mercadel and Bagneris with 70 free Jazz Fest tickets and the opportunity to purchase 100 more at half price. They’d also each receive a free parking spot on the festival grounds; four laminated badges that grant access to viewing areas on the sides of the festival’s three main stages; six “silkie” stick-on passes for access to guest viewing areas near the main stages; four wristbands for access to a private lounge on the festival grounds; and the privilege to buy Jazz Fest posters at a discount.

Bagneris can't use all of those tickets himself to go look at the "magic." More likely what he's worried about here is somebody might lose some money. Anyone with a connection to recipients of these perks and a little bit of entrepreneurial pluck could certainly make something out of a wad of free and discounted tickets. The "irreparable harm" the injunction is meant to prevent likely stems from the threatened interruption of this commerce. 

If the injunction stays in place, Bagneris and Mercadel would apparently be the only recipients of those packages anymore. The perks rules, even for current board members, have been scaled back somewhat. But it's worth considering just how much of this is in circulation given the number of "Past Presidents" and board members receiving perks which, even under the new rules, carry substantial value.

The benefits received by current members of the board are now capped at $9,000 in total value and are reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Each laminate badge is reportedly valued at $1,950, so a board member who accepted all four available laminates could then accept only another 15 or so regular admission tickets, which have a gate price of $90 apiece.

Fifteen free tickets valued at $90 a piece plus the badges is still quite a haul. But 70 tickets with the option to buy 100 more at a discount is a big business worth suing over. Looks like this ruling came in just in time to save that business. 

UPDATE: Whoops maybe not!

On Wednesday, Louisiana’s 4th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed. It reversed Civil District Judge Nicole Sheppard’s April 13 decision, which had granted Demetric Mercadel and Michael Bagneris the preliminary injunction they sought against the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc.

 

Mercadel and Bagneris, the 4th Circuit judges said, “failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that they would suffer irreparable injury if they did not receive injunctive relief." They “have not demonstrated anything more than inconvenience.”

Maybe the state supreme court could still weigh in. But they'd only have a week to do that before Jazzfest opens. If there are any pending deals for vacation packages hinging on this, the suspense is building.