Battle between ex-brothers-in-law over Habs season tickets spills into courtroom
MONTREAL — There are few things as coveted in Montreal as Canadiens season tickets, and a Quebec man has found that cutting someone out from a long-standing ticket-sharing deal can come at a hefty cost.
Quebec Superior Court awarded nearly $45,000 in compensation to Louis Terzopoulos in a judgment this month after he argued successfully that his former brother-in-law, Petros Sakaris, deprived him of his stake in seats they had previously shared for 19 years.
The tickets were described in testimony from a sports-marketing expert and former Montreal Canadiens executive as “amongst the best seats in the house” — above the penalty bench, on the centre-ice red line with an unobstructed view.
For his part, Sakaris had argued that the tickets at Montreal’s Bell Centre were his alone, that there was never any formal agreement with Terzopoulos, and that as the sole owner of the seats, he offered them to the plaintiff because of their links through marriage.
Justice Jeffrey Edwards’ Aug. 1 ruling in the civil suit found that Sakaris didn’t have the right to cut his former brother-in-law out of the tickets.
“The overwhelming evidence confirms the existence of an agreement between Petros and Louis pursuant to which Louis had a right to obtain and share from Petros the use of two Montreal Canadiens season tickets,” Edwards wrote.
The case was heard over a few days in late June, but the legal fight is not over. Sakaris’s attorney Tom Markakis said in an email his client plans to appeal, declining further comment.
After meeting each other through their respective girlfriends — sisters they would go on to marry — the men attended Montreal Canadiens games from time to time. The trial heard they had often discussed owning season tickets.