SXSW Class Action Says Fans Owed Refunds

A class action lawsuit has been filed against the operators of the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival by two attendees who claim that the defendant did not provide a refund when the event was cancelled because of the coronavirus.

Maria Bromley and Kleber Pauta say that after SXSW was cancelled, the defendants only offered them free tickets to one of the next three years’ shows, but would not provide a refund.

Bromley claims that she purchased a “Platinum” badge from SXSW for approximately $1,670, which included $1,600 for registration and $70 for meals and merchandise.

When she learned that the festival was cancelled due to the coronavirus, she says she contacted them by telephone and asked for a refund.

Bromley states that the representative who took her call told her that the defendant would not be providing a refund for the cancelled event. She then sent an email requesting a refund for the cancelled event, but she maintains that SXSW has not replied to her email.

Did you buy tickets to the cancelled 2020 SXSW festival and didn’t get a refund? Get legal help here.

On April 1, 2020, Bromley says she received an email from the defendant which offered her to defer her badge for use in the 2021, 2022, or the 2023 festival and that the offer would expire on April 30, 2020.

Pauta reportedly had a similar experience. He claims that he purchased a SXSW badge for $1,020. He says that on March 6, 2020, he received an email from SXSW organizers stating that the festival had been cancelled. He states that once he found out the festival was cancelled, he emailed the company for a cash refund.

Pauta notes that SXSW did not respond to his email until April 23, 2020, when the defendant informed him that the stated policy of the festival has always been no refunds and that SXSW would not be issuing him a refund for the cancelled event.

He claims to have received the same email as Bromley, which offered him to defer his badge for use in the 2021, 2022, or 2023 festival.

The plaintiffs maintain that they do not intend to attend future festivals and even the organizers have acknowledged that future festivals may not actually occur.

In addition, the SXSW class action states that, in order to purchase credentials for SXSW, attendees must agree to its Participation and Credentials Terms and Conditions (PCT&C).

The plaintiffs allege that the PCT&C includes a “Refund and Revocation Policy” which states that SXSW may cancel the festival at any time and that the organization does not issue refunds under any circumstances.

“If enforced, however, the Refund and Revocation policy would render the PCT&C an unenforceable, illusory, unilateral option contract that allows SXSW to sell Credentials, cancel the Festival for any or no reason whatsoever, and retain all customer payments while leaving Plaintiffs and the Class without a remedy,” the SXSW class action lawsuit alleges.

Thus, the plaintiffs state the SXSW Refund and Revocation policy is unlawful, unconscionable, and unenforceable.

The SXSW festival was supposedly scheduled to take place between March 13-22, 2020. The plaintiffs say that, despite reports that the coronavirus was spreading, the SXSW organizers stated that the event was going on as planned.

The plaintiffs complain that SXSW has shifted the burden of the coronavirus pandemic onto festival goers like the plaintiffs who, during these trying times, need their money back for a festival that did not occur.

An article in the Statesman reports that, before the coronavirus started to spread across the United States, the SXSW organizers faced mounting pressure to cancel the event. In addition, the article says that about 55,000 people signed a Change.org petition asking that the festival be called off.

“Because the Refund and Revocation Policy unenforceable, it is severed from the contract, allowing Plaintiffs and the Class to pursue the relief to which they are entitled: a refund of all monies paid to SXSW for Credentials for the 2020 festival,” the SXSW class action lawsuit proclaims.

Common questions of law and fact in the SXSW class action lawsuit include 1) whether SXSW should be required to provide refunds for the cancelled 2020 festival; 2) whether the defendant breached the PCT&C by refusing to issue refunds for the 2020 festival; and 3) whether SXSW was unjustly enriched by its conduct of not providing refunds.

Potential Class Members include: “All persons in the United States who purchased Credentials for the 2020 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Randy Howry, Sean Breen and James Hatchitt of Howry Breen & Herman LLP; Joseph G. Sauder, Lori G. Kier and Joseph B. Kenney of Sauder Schelkopf LLC; and Daniel O. Herrera, Kaitlin Naughton and Bryan L. Clobes of Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP.

The SXSW Refund Class Action Lawsuit is Maria Bromley, et al. v. SXSW LLC, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-00439, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

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