NHL Hockey Ticket theft ?

[discoman]

Hello,
My son (18)and his girlfriend(16) had ordered NHL tickets (2) for a game in April. Her parents ordered the tickets by credit card and when they came in he paid for his ticket in cash to her. Now they have broken up and she refuses to give him the ticket or the money back. I even called to talk to her father and he told her to keep the ticket. I said I'd like the ticket ( as I paid for it) OR the money for it . The father believes since my son broke up with her, they have some right to this ticket !!!! I believe it is theft and should be returned. What do I do next ? Call the police and report a crime, small claims court ? I can't believe an adult would keep money or property belonging to someone else. Am I at the mercy of dishonorable people here or do I have some recourse. Thank you so much for any help in this matter.
Discoman

[Citicop]

I don't think you have a criminal case based on what you wrote.

This is a civil matter and is best addressed in small claims court.

-Citicop.

[Kimble]

Am I at the mercy of dishonorable people here or do I have some recourse. Thank you so much for any help in this matter.

You're not at the "mercy" of anyone. You could take this to small claims court, but is the cost of a sports event really worth the time and effort? You may argue it is, and you have the legal right to pursue civil means to address this (this is not a theft in a criminal sense, it's a dispute of who owes who, which is a civil matter), if that makes you happy.

At any rate, there's nothing the police can do about this, except write up an incident report of your side of the story if you call them (and no, simply putting your side of the story on a police report doesn't help you further in a civil court case, as it's still nothing more than YOUR side of the story). If you want to pursue small claims court of this, I think you're wasting time that could be better used elsewhere (like spending some quality time with your son), but as I said, you have the legal right to do so.

[ChesCopPodz]

Not a theft. A theft is taking something without consent. You (or your son with your knowledge) gave her the ticket. You have to go to civil court to settle this.

[discoman]

Thanks for all the replies. It probably is a waste of time to go to small claims, just to have them lie there and say we never paid them for the ticket. But the principle of the the matter just burns me up. What is this father teaching his daughter ? Shameful !! I'm know this was small stuff to you guys but I just had to get your take on it. Thanks again,
D-man