National Aquarium class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: Plaintiffs Maura Matvey and Benjamin Lagos filed a class action lawsuit against National Aquarium Inc.
- Why: Matvey and Lagos claim National Aquarium unlawfully charges consumers a hidden transaction fee on ticket purchases made through its website.
- Where: The National Aquarium class action lawsuit was filed in Maryland federal court.
A new class action lawsuit alleges National Aquarium unlawfully charges consumers a hidden transaction fee on ticket purchases made through its website.
Plaintiffs Maura Matvey and Benjamin Lagos claim National Aquarium adds the transaction fee after using a “deceptively lower upfront price to lure consumers into the purchase process for tickets.”
“[National Aquarium] does not disclose its mandatory transaction fee until after a consumer has invested substantial time choosing a date and time, has considered whether to buy add-on experiences and had decided to purchase based on the advertised price after clicking through a multi-page checkout process,” the class action lawsuit says.
Matvey and Lagos want to represent a class of consumers from within the District of Columbia who purchased a ticket from National Aquarium’s website where all mandatory fees were not included in the initially displayed or advertised price of the ticket.
Class action claims National Aquarium cost consumers millions
Matvey and Lagos claim National Aquarium’s alleged hidden transaction fee was an example of drip pricing — a “bait-and-switch pricing technique.”
In a drip pricing scheme, mandatory fees like those charged by National Aquarium are “foisted upon consumers after they have been lured in by a misleadingly low advertised price,” the National Aquarium class action lawsuit says.
National Aquarium, by way of the hidden charge, has ultimately “extracted millions of dollars from consumers beyond the prices it advertised,” the complaint alleges.
Matvey and Lagos claim National Aquarium is guilty of violating the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act.
The plaintiffs demand a jury trial and request declaratory and injunctive relief and an award of actual, statutory, compensatory, disgorgement and/or punitive damages for themselves and all class members.
Earlier this year, SeaWorld was hit with a similar lawsuit claiming the company used misleading pricing practices and hidden fees to deceive consumers.
Have you purchased a ticket from the National Aquarium’s website? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Brandy A. Peeples of Brandy A. Peeples P.C. t/a Peeples Law and Arun G. Ravindran of Ravindran Law Firm PLLC.
The National Aquarium class action lawsuit is Matvey, et al. v. National Aquarium Inc., Case No. 1:26-cv-01912, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
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