Tough Mudder Class Action Moves to State Court

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A class action lawsuit alleging that Tough Mudder Inc., a company that runs obstacle course endurance races, changed event locations unexpectedly leaving racers either out registration fees or faced with increased lodging costs was moved back to state court by the First Circuit.

Lead plaintiffs alleged in their class action lawsuit filed in November of 2014 that Tough Mudder relocated its event twice. The complaint states that the race was moved from Haverhill, Mass. 12 miles away to Amesbury, then 79 miles away to Westbrook, Maine. According to the plaintiff, Tough Mudder refused to give those who could not attend the event, the fee they paid to participate back.

According to the complaint, plaintiffs and other potential Class Members had to either pay for additional lodging due to the move or forfeit their fee to participate in the obstacle course event. The plaintiffs seek represent a Class of racers who planned to attend the event, but didn’t because of the move, along with a subclass of those who did attend, but had to pay for lodging.

The original class action lawsuit was filed in state court in Massachusetts. Tough Mudder filed to move the case to federal court. According to the racing company, the amount in controversy exceeded the $5 million necessary to take it to federal court.

The class action was dismissed from Massachusetts federal court. The federal court ruled that the case was to go to mediation and arbitration; however, the plaintiffs appealed the case to the First Circuit, arguing that the amount in controversy did not actually amount to the required $5 million.

The First Circuit agreed with the plaintiffs, and ruled to send the class action back to Massachusetts federal court with instructions to send it back to state court. According to the First Circuit ruling, Tough Mudder failed to correctly account for lodging fees. Although the company had established $4 million in possible damages in registration fees, food and fuel costs, it had failed to account for the remainder in lodging fees.

The First Circuit pointed out that Tough Mudder had a record of the participants’ addresses in their ruling. “With that information, the defendants could have come up with a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of people who might have had to travel far enough from home for the event so as to require lodging,” the opinion said. “But they did not do so. Nor have they attempted to support the assumptions that they ask us to accept with any historical data that they might possess.”

The plaintiffs and proposed Class is represented by C. Deborah Phillips, James M. Galliher and James L. O’Connor Jr. of Nickless Phillips and O’Connor and Barry M. Altman.

The Tough Mudder Relocation Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Pazol, et al. v. Tough Mudder Inc., et al., Case No. 15-1640, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

UPDATE: On Jan. 10, 2019, race participants are seeking to revive their Tough Mudder class action lawsuit, claiming that the company failed to pay a settlement fund after a company split.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 21, 2019, an executive at Tough Mudder says that despite allegations from runners who filed a class action lawsuit claiming that Tough Mudder financially injured them by moving a race location, the company will pay its settlement over the issue and is not planning to split into two companies to avoid doing so.