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StubHub has asked a judge to send a COVID-19 MLB cancelation class action lawsuit to arbitration, instead of sending it to court.
The ticket seller, along with subsidiary Last Minute Transactions Inc., says when customers bought tickets through StubHub they agreed to terms of service that required them to handle dispute with the company outside of court.
In addition to challenging whether or not the claims could be brought forward at all, StubHub also took issue with the specific allegations brought forward by baseball fans.
According to the company, it has not violated California consumer protection law or committed fraud, as consumers had called in their COVID-19 baseball cancelation class action lawsuit.
Fans filed their allegations against StubHub, Ticketmaster and Major League Baseball itself in the form of a proposed class action lawsuit. The customers claimed the companies were wrongly trying to avoid providing refunds to customers who had tickets to games canceled due to COVID-19.
According to the ticket holders, games were perpetually postponed, which allowed the sellers to not refund tickets. However, the customers asserted the games should have been canceled because in many cases it was virtually impossible that they could be rescheduled. The plaintiffs took issue with StubHub’s practice of offering vouchers for future games instead of refunds.
However, StubHub asserted that the company did not attempt to defraud customers or cheat them out of the cost of their tickets. The company stated that customers did not and could not claim that StubHub knew the COVID-19 pandemic would affect baseball games when customers made their purchase.
The company stresses that “those purchases preceded any StubHub change in policy, any pandemic-related shutdowns in the United States, and any pandemic-related impact on sporting events.”
Additionally, the company noted that StubHub did not misrepresent terms of purchase to consumers, because Major League Baseball itself had not clarified whether or not games that had been canceled due to COVID-19 would later be played.
The company also asserted that it did not violate the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act or the California Unfair Competition Law. To support this argument, StubHub argued that tickets are not a good or service covered under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
Top Class Actions reported on an earlier development of this legal news, noting that in their complaint, consumers detailed the developments in game cancelations as the COVID-19 situation emerged. Reportedly, the beginning of the season was interrupted on March 12, 2020, due to the coronavirus. At that time, the start of the season was merely delayed by two weeks.
Fans complained they were not offered refunds for these early games because the league thought there was a possibility games could be rescheduled. As the COVID-19 situation emerged, it allegedly became more evident that games would not be able to be rescheduled as intended.
Reportedly, the MLB began to offer refunds beginning April 28, when the league acknowledged that many games would not be rescheduled. The league is now anticipated to play a short season of only 69 games instead of its usual 162 games. According to reports, it is not known whether or not fans will be allowed to watch the games in the stadiums.
This is not the only class action lawsuit that StubHub is facing over its approach to COVID-19 cancelations.
Reportedly, the company is facing criticism from customers who purchased tickets to a range of events through StubHub.
According to the ticket seller, tens of thousands of live events have been canceled because of the coronavirus.
The impact of the coronavirus has been profound, not only in the events canceled, but also the effect on anticipated future revenue.
StubHub reportedly cannot use potential future revenue to pay for refunds, as many events in the future will still be canceled because of the coronavirus.
Have you experienced any COVID-19 cancelations? Did you receive a refund? Share your experiences in the comments section below.
The baseball fans are represented by David Azar, Marc Grossman, Peggy Wedgworth, Andrei Rado, Jennifer Czeisler, Blak Yagman, and Michael Acciavatti of MIlberg Phillips Grossman LLP.
The StubHub MLB COVID-19 Cancelation Class Action Lawsuit is Matthew Ajzenman, et al. v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, Case No. 2:20-cv-03643, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.
Join a Free Coronavirus Class Action Lawsuit Investigation
If you believe your rights were violated in a way that is directly related to the coronavirus pandemic, you may qualify to join this coronavirus class action lawsuit investigation.
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7 thoughts onStubHub Wants MLB Refund Class Action Lawsuit Arbitrated
Add me to the list- 2 events cancelled and they took over 6 mo to return refund for 1 event and still have my money for the other one during covid
Called yesterday re a concert that was rescheduled for 6/28 – turns out cancelled. Was never notified and no refund – just credit. Add me to the list!
Add me to the list. I.am going through a nightmare situation with StubHub.
I have the original email from stubhub, when covid first started, that in the case the event is cancelled we had to option of receiving a full refund to its original payment method or getting a 110% credit to the account.
In the times we are in, I was waiting for the event to be cancelled so that I can get my full refund. And until this day I still haven’t received my refund, Stubhub automatically just gave 110% credit to my account.
I go to stubhubs website and they sneakily updated their policies and removed the refund to original payment method. Where can I file????
I am so pissed about this. StubHub is just trying to keep the profits and we, the consumers, are the losers who are forced to take the loss because there’s nothing we can do. They’re so disgusting.
Add me to list
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