Name: Refund demands pile up as coronavirus derails college, concerts and sporting events
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Refund demands pile up as coronavirus derails college, concerts and sporting events

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Many people have started demanding refunds on everything from their college tuition to theme park passes to theater and sports tickets. Now, as the coronavirus quarantine drags on, many of these complaints are bound to end up in court, some attorneys say. Advertisement Universities appear to be among the first in line. Students from at least a half-dozen U.S. colleges, including one at the University of Miami, want their money back for tuition and service fees they paid for a semester derailed by the coronavirus crisis. At least six federal lawsuits have been filed — three in New York and one each in Pennsylvania, Arizona and South Carolina. The South Carolina suit was filed Wednesday by Adelaide Dixon, a student at the University of Miami Business School. Her lawyers complained that she paid full tuition and activity fees, as well as room and board, but received only part of what she paid for before in-person classes were suspended in March. “To date, defendant has failed and continues to fail to adequately and fully refund plaintiff and class members’ fees for on campus services which defendant is no longer providing,” her attorneys wrote. Dixon’s fees covered athletics, a wellness center and other on-campus amenities no one will be using for the rest of the semester, according to the lawsuit, which also cites the face-to-face experience of talking as part of the value of UM’s tuition of more than $50,000 a year. The other federal suits have been filed against Drexel University in Pennsylvania, Arizona Board of Regents and Columbia, Pace and Long Island University. In New York and California, fans with unusable tickets have sued Major League Baseball and online ticket vendors LiveNation and StubHub. yet, but consumer law experts say the likelihood of similar legal action is high. “People who prepaid for services such as concerts and sporting events are going to want their money back, and that’s reasonable,” said Palm Beach County lawyer Craig Kelley, of Kelley, Fulton & Kaplan, P.L. Advertisement Many businesses carry “interruption” insurance policies that allow them to recover losses for unavoidable cancellations, he said. “That is something that would benefit the business, and it can be passed to the consumer.” Theme parks, including Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment (which also owns Busch Gardens) have announced coronavirus response policies that allow for some refunds but lean more toward providing purchased services at a later date — tickets that were supposed to expire at a certain date will still be honored, and cancellation or rescheduling fees are being waived, according to the theme park websites. For annual passholders on a monthly payment plan, Disney stopped collecting on April 5 and issued refunds for payments made between March 14 and April 4, according to a spokesperson. Some gyms, including L.A. Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness, were sued last month in other parts of the country for membership fees — but both companies said they were suspending billing until they reopen. As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. You are now following this newsletter. “This isn’t a situation where Disney or the Marlins or any other business decided to shut down on their own,” said Fort Lauderdale consumer lawyer Elias Hilal. “They are closed for safety reasons and by virtue of an executive order. Tons of these vendors are suffering as well." That could be especially true for homeowner associations that still have to collect maintenance and other fees from residents even though shared amenities such as pools and gyms cannot be used, said Jordan Brill of Glachman & Brill, P.A., a Boca Raton firm that usually sides with homeowners in disputes against associations. Advertisement Brill’s advice for : don’t. “These fees are not dependent on whether you are able to use certain amenities,” he said. “Be mindful that your association has a budget that accounts for necessary expenses to run the community. Those expenses don’t go away in a pandemic.” Rafael Olmeda can be reached at 954-356-4457 or rolmeda@sunsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter or Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Next Story Advertisement Advertisement

Many people have started demanding refunds on everything from their college tuition to theme park passes to theater and sports tickets. Now, as the coronavirus quarantine drags on, many of these complaints are bound to end up in court, some attorneys say. Advertisement Universities appear to be among the first in line. Students from at least a half-dozen U.S. colleges, including one at the University of Miami, want their money back for tuition and service fees they paid for a semester derailed by the coronavirus crisis. At least six federal lawsuits have been filed — three in New York and...

Refund demands pile up as coronavirus derails college, concerts and sporting events

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