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Law360 (December 14, 2020, 7:20 PM EST) -- Attorneys for a Walt Disney Company subsidiary on Friday said a group of theme park ticket holders lack standing in their complaint over how the company handled its annual passes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming its contract does not guarantee access to the parks.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Disney's motion to dismiss claims that a group of annual ticket holders failed to state an injury or means for redress from an alleged breach of contract that occurred when reopening its parks.
The putative class alleges that, after a suspension of monthly charges for annual passes starting in April after Disney closed its parks, customers were later improperly charged several months of payments all at once when it began reopening in July, which Disney says was a "one-time billing error" that was quickly reversed.
The plaintiffs further complain that privileges afforded to annual pass holders no longer exist as part of Disney's more limited reopening strategy, which requires guests reserve a spot ahead of time.
"Their 'gotcha' complaint is much ado about nothing," Disney said in its motion on Friday.
Disney claims that the annual pass contract does not "guarantee" entry to a park, and access even before the pandemic could be limited due to capacity. The park's new reservation system, which Disney says needs approval from the local and state governments, necessitated limited capacity for safety reasons and was not the fault of the company. It added that its passes are "revocable" at its discretion.
Disney noted a similar coronavirus-related case against SeaWorld, which it says was dismissed on similar grounds. "Performance has been rendered impracticable by the COVID-19 pandemic," the company said.
Further, Disney said it "not only informed pass holders about the changes to the park experience — it gave annual pass holders the choice to either opt in to the changes or opt out and receive refunds for the unused value of their passes."
Part of the complaint concerns overbilling by Disney when it charged for months of payments at once following a pause. While it didn't deny this, the company in its motion called the matter a "one-time billing error," and added it was not "unjustly enriched" from the mistake.
"Moreover, while plaintiffs claim 'stress and aggravation' and 'mental anguish' resulting from a one-time billing error, no funds were transferred from their accounts, and Disney has already paid or offered to pay any bank fees or other harm caused by that error," the company said. "Litigation cannot reasonably achieve for them any redress that Disney has not already offered."
Neither party was immediately available for comment.
The plaintiffs are represented by Katherine E. Yanes and Gus M. Centrone of Kynes Markman & Felman, Brian L. Shrader of Shrader Law PLLC, and Christie D. Arkovich of Christie D. Arkovich PA.
Disney Destinations LLC is represented by Dennis P. Waggoner of Hill Ward Henderson and Christopher A. Cole, Andrew Pruitt and Julia Milewski of Crowell & Moring.
The case is Leon et al. v. Disney Destinations LLC, case number 6:20-cv-1780, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
--Editing by Philip Shea.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
