SeaWorld EZ Pay Plaintiffs Win Class Certification

A federal judge in Florida has granted Class certification in a consumer lawsuit challenging SeaWorld’s EZ Pay automatic renewal terms.

U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven granted a motion for Class certification by a group of plaintiffs who claim SeaWorld has been renewing passes without the purchasers’ consent.

The plaintiffs say they, and thousands of other customers, were illegally charged for renewal of an annual pass after expiration of the 12-month pass and payment terms.

Plaintiff Jason Herman filed this SeaWorld class action lawsuit in December 2014. He claims SeaWorld violated the terms of its own agreement when it automatically renewed his annual EZ Pay pass after he had paid it off in less than one year.

SeaWorld offers the annual pass at issue to customers of its parks in Florida, Texas, California and Virginia. Customers can pay for the pass in 12 monthly payments through the SeaWorld EZ Pay system.

Terms in the SeaWorld EZ Pay contract allow it to be renewed automatically on a month-to-month basis, but not for passes that are paid off in “less than 12 months.”

Plaintiffs argue that under the plain meaning of the contract, the normal course of 12 monthly payments pays off the pass in under 12 calendar months. SeaWorld counters that its own contract is ambiguous, entitling the company to automatically renew the pass if the customer pays it off according to the regular schedule of 12 monthly payments.

After discovery, SeaWorld moved for partial summary judgment in September 2016. The company argued that the plaintiffs paid for their passes not in “less than 12 months” but in exactly 12 months. Since the plaintiffs also did not terminate their contract, the company argues, automatic renewal of their passes was proper under the SeaWorld EZ Pay agreement.

In Judge Scriven’s current order, she also addresses motions by the plaintiffs to strike two reports by SeaWorld’s expert witnesses, one by a linguist and another by an accounting and database management expert.

Judge Scriven struck the linguist’s report, finding that it impermissibly draws a legal conclusion. She declined to strike the accounting expert’s report, finding it did not contain impermissible legal conclusions and could be helpful to the jury.

Judge Scriven’s order certifies two plaintiff Classes, which she expects will cover more than 124,000 Class Members.

The Breach of Contract Class will cover all U.S. persons who, within the applicable statutory limitations period, purchased a one-year pass through the SeaWorld EZ Pay program for a SeaWorld park in Florida, Texas, Virginia or California; who were residents of the same state as the park at the time of their purchase; and who were charged additional monthly renewal payments after paying off the pass in less than 12 months.

For claims under the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act, the EFTA Subclass will cover Class Members who paid for their pass with a debit card and who were hit with additional monthly renewal charges on or after the date one year prior to the filing of this action.

The plaintiffs and the Classes are represented by attorneys Ryan C. Hasanbasic and Paul R. Fowkes of the Disparti Law Group and James E. Felman and Katherine Earle Yanes of Kynes, Markman & Felman PA.

The SeaWorld EZ Pay 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 June 29, 2018, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Inc. has agreed to pay $11.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit over allegations it automatically renewed year-long passes without consumers’ consent.

UPDATE 2: March 2019, the SeaWorld EZ pay class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim. 

UPDATE 3: 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!