Attorney sues friend over rights to CWS tickets

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By The Associated Press

OMAHA — An Omaha lawyer is suing a lifelong friend over rights to the pair’s eight College World Series tickets.

Omaha attorneys Jerry Slusky and Howard Hahn have shared the season tickets for 20 years, but now other lawyers hired by the two are preparing for court on Monday, four days before the first game of this year’s series on Friday.

Kathryn Morrissey, the executive director of CWS of Omaha Inc., said the organization gets calls each year from feuding families who threaten to sue one another and ask the CWS to determine ticket ownership.

But this is the first time she’s heard of someone making good on that threat, Morrissey said.

“I can’t recall any situations where it’s actually been litigated,” Morrissey said. “Usually, season tickets bring people together.”

Slusky said in a filing with Douglas County District Court that Hahn has refused to turn over four of the seats.

He’s trying to recover the tickets using a legal move designed to recover personal property.

Slusky said he bought four season tickets in 1975 and invited Hahn to share them. They added four more tickets in 1977, according to an affidavit.

Slusky said Hahn is arguing he took ownership when Slusky moved to Florida briefly in the 1980s.

Hahn said he wouldn’t detail what happened between the two, but said Slusky understands.

“Put it this way: I’ve got a small stack of papers on my credenza that he’s aware of,” Hahn said.

A mutual friend, Omaha developer John Hoich, said the argument is not actually about baseball tickets, but about a shopping center all three partnered in that was sold to a California investor last year. Hoich said Hahn did not like some of the fees Slusky — a real estate lawyer — charged for work on the development.

“I adore them both,” Hoich said. “And in John Hoich’s opinion, they should both hug, say ’mazel tov’ to each other and go watch the College World Series together.”

Slusky insisted he’s not mad at Hahn and said he would be happy to sit next to him if a judge decides to split the tickets between them.

“I just want my tickets,” he said.

The waiting list to buy all-session tickets has more than 1,300 names on it. The CWS only lets season ticket holders pass tickets on to immediate family members.