SeaWorld Auto-Renewal Class Action Lawsuit Moves Forward

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

In a class action lawsuit alleging SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Inc. automatically renews yearlong passes without consumers’ consent, SeaWorld defended its experts who testified that the proposed Class is too complicated to ascertain.

In December of 2014, lead plaintiff Jason Herman alleged that he bought two one-year passes to SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens in Florida and that SeaWorld continued to charge him after a full year of monthly charges to his credit card without permission.

The class action further alleges that nearly 125,000 SeaWorld annual pass purchasers were affected by the auto-renewal policy. In a motion, the plaintiff asked the court to certify a Class of consumers who signed up for an EZ Pay one-year pass to any of SeaWorld’s theme parks and paid it off in less than 12-months but were then charged additional amounts after the membership was paid for.

In response, SeaWorld presented testimony from two experts, one in linguistics and one in business records to support its argument that the plaintiff’s proposed Class in the lawsuit is not ascertainable and too unwieldy.

The plaintiff filed motions to strike both of the experts’ testimony. According to one motion, the business records expert did not provide a rigorous analysis of the records provided by SeaWorld and a layperson could have provided the same results. This week, SeaWorld responded to the motion, supporting their expert and arguing that the analysis was more complex. SeaWorld pointed out that the expert had taken multiple datasets and built a database that could be accessed to easily identify customer information, pass purchases and interactions with SeaWorld representatives.

The plaintiff’s motion to strike the linguistic expert’s testimony argued that the analysis focused on contractual language that should be left to determinations made by the jury and court in the class action lawsuit. SeaWorld disagreed in its response and pointed out that the linguistic expert’s analysis was relevant to the determination about whether the Class was ascertainable.

According to SeaWord’s response, “[c]ontrary to plaintiffs’ argument that Dr. Metcalf’s opinions ‘relate solely to the merits of plaintiffs’ claims’ … Dr. Metcalf provides linguistic analysis that helps explain the factual basis for why plaintiffs’ class definitions run afoul of ascertainability and due process requirements.”

SeaWorld argued that the linguistic expert’s testimony about what the term “in less than 12 months” means is relevant to determine whether the use of this term could show who properly belongs in the Class or whether a Class can even be determined.

If certified, the class action lawsuit would represent one-year pass holders in Florida, Texas, Virginia and California who paid for their passes using EZ Pay and were charged extra after they paid off their passes.

Herman is represented by Paul R. Fowkes and Ryan C. Hasanbasic of the Disparti Law Group PA.

The SeaWorld Auto-Renewal Class Action Lawsuit is Herman, et al. v. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Inc., Case No. 8:14-cv-03028, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

UPDATE: On May 3, 2016, SeaWorld has asked the court to compel the plaintiffs to hand over information about other, similar payment plans they subscribe to with other businesses.

UPDATE 2: On July 13, 2016, a Florida federal judge denied SeaWorld’s motion to compel production of contractual documents it says are necessary to their defense in a consumer class action lawsuit over the theme park’s EZpay annual passes, calling it a “fishing expedition.”

UPDATE 3: On Sept. 6, 2016, SeaWorld filed a motion for partial summary judgment asking a Florida federal judge to dismiss the breach of contract claim from a class action lawsuit that takes issue with its EZPay annual pass auto-renewal policies.

UPDATE 4: On March 10, 2017, a federal judge in Florida granted Class certification in a consumer lawsuit challenging SeaWorld’s EZ Pay automatic renewal terms.

UPDATE 5: On June 29, 2018, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Inc. has agreed t

o pay $11.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit over allegations it automatically renewed year-long passes without consumers’ consent.

UPDATE 6: March 2019, the SeaWorld EZ pay class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim. 

UPDATE 7: On Aug. 20, 2019, Top Class Actions viewers started getting checks from the SeaWorld EZ Pay class action settlement worth as much as $97.47. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!