STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETNETWORK, SEATGEEK & FANXCHANGE

COVID-19 UPDATE (NOVEMBER 10, 2021):

On August 18, 2020, the Superior Court of Quebec approved the settlement. The settlement provides that the credits must be used within thirty-six (36) months of their issuance. Due to the cancelations and postponements of events caused by COVID-19, the credit will be valid – and must be used – between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024, as per the Court’s judgment rendered on November 10, 2021.

For more information, you can send an email to: jzukran@lpclex.com.

Quebec Superior Court file #:

500-06-000754-156

What this case was about:

Plaintiff alleged that Defendants violate paragraph c of section 224 of Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act by charging a higher price than that advertised for their tickets (by way of hidden fees, which are added on to the ticket price after the first step of the purchase process). Plaintiff further alleged that Defendants unlawfully sold tickets to consumers above face value, in violation of section 236.1 of Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act. These allegations were never proven in Court.

Class:

Every consumer, pursuant to the terms of Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act (“CPA”), residing in Quebec at the time of purchase, who since August 28th, 2012 to the dates found at paragraph 7 of the Transaction for each Settling Respondent (the “Class Period”), while physically located in Quebec, has purchased from any of the Respondents, or Vivid Seats’ Subsidiary’s Clients, or the Ticketnetwork-Third Party Marketers, at least one “Ticket” (as defined in section 236.1 CPA as meaning any document or instrument that upon presentation gives the ticket holder a right of entry to a show, sporting event, cultural event, exhibition or any other kind of entertainment) either:

(a) at a price above that announced by the vendor authorized to sell the Tickets by the producer of the event; and/or,

(b) who paid a price higher than the price advertised by Respondents on their respective websites and/or mobile applications (at the first step), excluding the Quebec sales tax or the Goods and Services Tax;

The dates of the practice change for each Settling Respondent referred to at paragraph 7 of the Transaction are:

StubHub Inc.: October 18, 2019;
Vivid Seats LLC and Vivid Seats’ Subsidiary’s Clients: October 10, 2019;
FanXchange Limited: April 25, 2018;
Ticketnetwork and Ticketnetwork-Third Party Marketers: November 15, 2019;
SeatGeek (a.d.b.a UberSeat): September 18, 2019.

Terms of the Settlement:

Compensation to Class Members under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, approved by the Superior Court, is as follows:

Each eligible class member who purchased a Ticket to an event in the province of Quebec will receive a CAD $24.29 Credit applicable to a future purchase of any Ticket;
Each eligible class member who purchased a Ticket to an event outside of the province of Quebec – while physically located in Quebec – could receive a CAD $24.29 Credit applicable to a future purchase of any Ticket. An online claim form must be submitted within specific delays. Contact class counsel or Velvet Payments Inc. for more information (https://velvetpayments.com/billets/).

Additionally, StubHub, Vivid Seats, TicketNetwork, SeatGeek and FanXchange have implemented a business practice change to its Quebec on-line transaction process pursuant to which a ticket price announced to a Quebec consumer for an event in Quebec at the first step of said process will be a price inclusive of applicable Service Fees (all-in) except for taxes and optional costs or services (paper tickets, delivery, etc.).

Status:

This class action was initially authorized for settlement purposes only by the the Superior Court of Quebec on January 24, 2018. Certain changes were made to improve the terms of the proposed settlement and on February 11, 2020, the Court authorized a modification to the Class description and the dissemination of notices to new members since January 29, 2018 (date on which the initial notices were sent). The settlement approval hearing took place on July 16, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. in room 15.03 of the Montreal Courthouse. Please review the important documentation below, including a copy of the settlement.

On August 18, 2020, the Superior Court of Quebec approved the settlement.