Sarah Mirando  |  July 18, 2013

Category: Legal News

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Judge Denies Super Bowl Seating Class Action Lawsuit

By Anne Bucher

 

2011 Super BowlA federal judge has declined to certify a class action lawsuit filed by ticketholders who were displaced when seats were not properly installed for the 2011 Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas.

To expand Cowboys Stadium’s 80,000 seating capacity for Super Bowl XLV, the Dallas Cowboys entered into a contract with Seating Solutions to install 13,000 temporary seats. Just hours before kickoff, approximately 1,250 of these temporary seats at Cowboy Stadium were deemed unsafe. As a result, 850 ticketholders were forced to move to new seats.

More than 400 fans were left without seats and had to watch the game while standing. The plaintiffs in the proposed class action lawsuit claim that they were not informed about the lack of seating options until they had cleared security and their tickets were scanned.


U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn ruled July 9 that the plaintiffs in the proposed class action lawsuit failed to prove that the class shared significant common issues. She claimed that the affected ticketholders had incurred different expenses based on a variety of factors.

“The Court, therefore, concludes that the variation in the materiality of the omission, combined with the individual questions of reliance and damages predominate over common issues,” Judge Lynn ruled.

In March 2011, separate Super Bowl lawsuits were consolidated into the federal class action lawsuit. The NFL had made three different attempts to settle the lawsuits with the 400 plaintiffs who did not have seats. In its class action settlement attempt, the NFL offered a $2,400 payment plus one ticket to the next Super Bowl; free airfare, hotel room and tickets to any future Super Bowl; or reimbursement for their expenses to the 2011 Super Bowl. The league offered a full refund for each ticket’s face value or a ticket to any Super Bowl in the future.

Last year, Judge Lynn ruled that the Dallas Cowboys would not be included as defendants in the Super Bowl class action lawsuit because ticket sales involved a contract between the buyer and the NFL.

In her denial of class action lawsuit status, Judge Lynn wrote that the ticket holders who did not participate in the NFL’s voluntary settlement would need to file individual lawsuits to determine damages. In assessing their complaints, Judge Lynn found “the burdens and costs associated with proceeding as a class action outweigh potential benefits.”

Plaintiffs in the Super Bowl class action lawsuit were also seeking damages for more than 4,700 ticketholders who claim that they were never informed that they held tickets for seats with obstructed views of the field. They claim that the NFL never offered a voluntary reimbursement program for ticketholders who claim to have experienced obstructed views of the Super Bowl.

Plaintiffs in the Super Bowl class action lawsuit are represented by Michael Avenatti. He said that he will proceed by filing individual breach of contract lawsuits. He claims that he will be able to prove that the plaintiffs were defrauded by the NFL.

The Super Bowl class action lawsuit is Simms, et al. v. Jones, et al., Case No. 3:11-cv-00248 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas.

 

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Updated July 18th, 2013

 

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