The Walt Disney Company is headed to court in a class action lawsuit that alleges Disney sold the Magic Keys program to customers using false advertising. The false advertising in question is that Disney supposedly told buyers that there would be no blockout / blackout dates… but instead of that being true, Disney then decided to block Magic Key holders from certain dates. The means by which they tried to do so is by claiming that the term “blockout” is not defined. As our legal analyst for That Park Place said when looking over the lawsuit information: Disney is trying to be just a little too cute here.
Where this is likely going is a settlement out of court. We can’t say for sure but this one doesn’t look like it goes in favor of Disney should it go the full distance. We hate to prejudge anything… but if you say there are no blockout dates, then claim you didn’t define blockout dates in the legalese… umm, probably not going to fly.
Here are the list of allegations:
Plaintiff brings the following claims against Defendant based on these allegations:
1. Violations of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act
(“CLRA”), Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1750 et seq.;
2. Violations of the California False Advertising Law (“FAL”), Cal
Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17500 et seq.;
3. Violations of the California Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”),
Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200 et seq.;
4. Breach of contract;
5. Negligent misrepresentation; and
6. Concealment/non-disclosure
Below you will find the court documents. We’ve kept some of them out of the list in order to protect the names, addresses, telephone numbers and contact information for plaintiffs, defendants and attorneys.
If you’re still hanging in there with us, just know that Disney’s attorneys sought to have the claims thrown out but the judge denied those efforts. According to the Motion to Dismiss Response, the judge had the following to say:
For the reasons set forth above, Disney’s Motion to Dismiss is DENIED IN PART
and GRANTED IN PART. The Court DENIES Defendant’s Motion with respect to
plaintiff’s claims for breach of contract and for legal remedies pursuant to the CLRA.
In other words, Disney still has some explaining to do when it comes to a breach of their contract in regards to blockout dates. Will that impact the ability of other Magic Pass holders to select any date they’d like? Well, it may or it may simply result in some money coming their way and a change in the very small print.
For all the latest news that should be fun, keep reading That Park Place. As always, feel free to drop a comment down below and let us know your thoughts on Disneyland and its new system replacing annual pass.
