On the heels of a newly passed bill signed by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, there has been a class action lawsuit filed against ticket app company SeatGeek, Inc. Three New York State residents have filed a lawsuit against SeatGeek in New York federal court based on claims that SeatGeek was not honest and upfront about the fees it was charging for purchases made on the SeatGeek platform.
In June of 2022, Governor Hochul signed a bill that would “target unfair, anti-consumer ticketing practices in the live event industry.”[1] The purpose of the bill is to increase transparency for consumers purchasing tickets to live events by forcing ticket companies to disclose the full price of the ticket upfront.[2] The bill also serves to outlaw the sale of free tickets, increase penalties for use of scalper bots and ticket purchasing software, and ban delivery fees for tickets that are delivered electronically or printed out at home by the consumer.[3]
The bill is represented in the New York Arts and Cultural Affair Law, which is what the plaintiffs are alleging that SeatGeek has violated. According to the complaint, SeatGeek will initially quote one price but then will later reveal the true price of the ticket, which includes hefty additional fees, in the final window.[4] The purchaser does not see these fees until they select the ticket they want and then pass through multiple screens in the purchase process.[5] Additionally, “when the fees finally appear on the checkout page, buyers are not given details about what the ‘fees’ cover, the lawsuit said.”[6] Furthermore, “plaintiffs claim that after initially being quoted ticket prices without fees by SeatGeek, they were respectively charged between $27.87 and $31.24 in fees per ticket at checkout.”[7]
As previously mentioned, the law signed by Governor Hochul requires that ticket prices do not increase during the purchase process – which begins as soon as the consumer visits the platform and sees the price listing.[8] Notably, the statute applies to both events in New York, as well as tickets purchased in New York for out-of-state events.[9] The class action lawsuit is meant to include “New Yorkers who purchased tickets to New York and non-New York events, and non-New York residents who purchased tickets to New York events.”[10]
The lawsuit states that the plaintiffs are claiming that SeatGeek sold at least 100,000 tickets through its website during the time period noted in the complaint.[11] Therefore, the plaintiffs claim that SeatGeek is liable for a minimum of $5 in statutory damages for each ticket sold.[12] This would result in the aggregate amount to be greater than $5 million, which is necessary for a federal class action lawsuit.
It is the hope of lawmakers that this lawsuit will mark the end of unfair ticket practices by ticket companies. With the signing of the bill by Governor Hochul, and Congress becoming increasingly vigilant of the business practices of ticket companies, it seems that we are heading in the right direction to combat the unfair practices that have been performed by ticket companies for years.
[1] Governor Hochul Signs Legislation Targeting Unfair Ticketing Practices in Live Event Industry | Governor Kathy Hochul (ny.gov)
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Consumers Sue SeatGeek Ticket Retailer Alleging Hidden Fees – Law360; SeatGeek Hit with Class Action Over Allegedly Hidden Online ‘Junk Fees’
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] SeatGeek Hit with Class Action Over Allegedly Hidden Online ‘Junk Fees’
[8] Consumers Sue SeatGeek Ticket Retailer Alleging Hidden Fees – Law360
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] SeatGeek Sued Over Alleged Hidden Ticket Fees (ticketnews.com); SeatGeek sued in multi-million class action over ticket price listings in New York (completemusicupdate.com)
[12] Id.
Leave a Reply