Back in May of this year, Ultra Music Festival Miami was sued in a class action lawsuit on behalf of ticket holders for not specifying or offering ticket refunds when their event was cancelled this year due to COVID-19. Sued on the grounds that their policy was unjust, they want people to be given the money that they deserve. “We look forward to seeking to recover cash refunds for our clients and the class members.” was said by Joe Sauder of Sauder Schelkopf LLC, who was representing the plaintiffs in the case.
Now, in a new development that happened at the end of November, Florida’s district court ordered the case to go to arbitration. Arbitration basically means that a dispute is resolved by an impartial adjudicator whose decision the parties to the dispute have agreed, or legislation has decreed, will be final and binding. In the court documents obtained which will be linked below, it starts with this:
“Plaintiffs Marcy Brooks, Richard Montoure, and Samuel Hernandez, ticket holders for the March 2020 Ultra Music Festival, in this putative classaction case, seek to recover damages from Defendant Event Entertainment Group, Inc., for canceling or postponing the Miami festival just a few days before its scheduled start. (Pls.’ Resp. to Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 17.) In response, Event Entertainment seeks to compel arbitration based on an arbitration clause in the parties’ ticket contracts. (Def.’s Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 14.) Further, Event Entertainment submits, in conjunction with compelling this case to arbitration, the Court should dismiss the Plaintiffs’ claims with prejudice. (Id. at 12.) In opposition to that motion, the Plaintiffs argue the Court should not enforce the arbitration clause because it is unconscionable and unenforceable.”
The plaintiffs wanted to avoid arbitration, but this is the direction Ultra wanted to go in even though the courts denied Ultra’s request to dismiss the plaintiffs. We will keep up to date with this court case, and report on when more information is available. The documents are able to be read here.
Image credit: Ultra (via Facebook)
