Federal Class Action Lawsuits over mistaken AP monthly charges quietly dismissed

[jcb]

Remember when (in July) Disney charged four monthly installment payments to Annual Passholders even though the Theme Parks were not yet open?
https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...ght-off-guard-with-4-months-of-charges-today/
Two AP holders filed a lawsuit in state court: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/bus...0200708-oo4iurqhbvhjdgybr3n2oqgxmi-story.html

Two other AP holders filed lawsuits in Federal Court but last week, the two federal lawsuits were voluntarily dismissed. The filings specified the dismissals were "without prejudice" which means the actions could be re-filed, though that's not a reason to think that they will be refiled. This also means it is unlikely that the dismissals were prompted by a settlement, those dismissals are "with prejudice" meaning (essentially) the lawsuit will not be re-filed.

Different counsel filed the state lawsuit than filed the federal lawsuits. The state court lawsuit reported by the Sentinel still shows as pending but the only activity reported on the docket is the filing of an amended complaint in which one of the two AP holders dropped out of the lawsuit. The docket does not show the plaintiff asked the court to issue a summons much less that the summons and complaint have served on Disney.

 

[OKW Lover]

Having a hard time understanding how this merits a lawsuit. Yes, Disney made a mistake. But they corrected it.

Just as a data point, I'm on the monthly plan and was not charged the extra monthly payments.

 

[jcb]

Having a hard time understanding how this merits a lawsuit. Yes, Disney made a mistake. But they corrected it.

I feel this way about a lot of lawsuits.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I feel this way about a lot of lawsuits.

Should we all say "frivolous" together?

 

[Walt4ever]

Having a hard time understanding how this merits a lawsuit. Yes, Disney made a mistake. But they corrected it.

Just as a data point, I'm on the monthly plan and was not charged the extra monthly payments.

I can see a possible lawsuit if the person sustained some damage because of the mistake. For example, if there was an NSF or payment that was denied from their account because of the mistake. And I mean something substantial, like a house note or purchase deposit or something that caused further ramifications, or they missed an opportunity to buy something because the money wasn't there. Whether they would win, up to the courts, but I can see where there could be a situation that a person could think a lawsuit was warranted.

As a data point, we were charged in error. We have more than one pass on the same monthly program, so the amount charged was over $1k. I don't keep a lot of money in that particular account, and actually did get my debit card denied at the grocery store that day. I had others on me, so no big deal, and the money was actually returned to my account same day. I just happened to be at the grocery store when Disney temporarily had it. It doesn't show up on my statement as it was only a hold, and I never would have known had my card not been denied. I saw it when I went to see why the denied transaction happened.

 

[jcb]

My point was really that, at least as far as Disney is concerned (and they are not alone), people seem to rush to the courthouse and file a class action lawsuit over every perceived slight. I'm not sure if the lawyers do this for the momentary publicity. No one other than me and Disney's lawyers, so far as I know, has even noticed or cared that these lawsuits were dismissed so the lawyers get publicity with minimal consequences, e.g., lawyer loses kind of articles.

I also suspect that the agreement that applies to AP monthly payments (I haven't seen it) excludes "consequential damages." So, if they improperly debited an account and that caused an overdraft, Disney is only responsible for refunding the amount of the improper debit but don't expect Disney to pay your overdraft fees. And if Disney's agreement doesn't already say this, it will probably say this in the future.

These exclusions are common even if not very well known. When you dropped off film to be developed, you signed nothing but you still agreed that if the developer screwed up in processing the negatives (and this happened with film) the developer would only be responsible for replacing the firm. They won't pay for you to go back to WDW for a week and recreate all the photos that they cost you. If airline cancellations or delays cause you to miss an important job interview or meeting (or an ABD trip, as happened to Kevin and John once) the airline will work with you on rescheduling the flights but they aren't going to pay for your losses from not getting the job, the sale you would have made if you had made it to the meeting, or because you spent the weekend in NYC and missed an ABD trip. Some airlines (looking at you AA), won't even pay for a hotel room if weather causes them to not be able to land the last flight of the day into an airport and forces the flight to divert to a hub.

 

[Lizgistix]

Data point: I am on the monthly payment plan, and I was charged. But I have mine linked to a credit card for the monthly payments so it didn't affect me at all as far as balances due or going over the credit limit or whatnot. In fact, I saw the notification pop on my phone about the charge to my card and said "what the duck?!"

 

[Disney Frenhines]

There is too much of a rush to file lawsuits and it's not a modern thing. This is absolutely true, but, I lost my husband in 1997 and he died at his workplace, with out even knowing what the circumstances were within 48 hours people were telling me to file a lawsuit for compensation. It's all about the money and nothing else.

If this overcharging of an AP monthly payment happened to me I'd ask for the money back and when I got it that would be the end of it.
The only true winners are the lawyers.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

My point was really that, at least as far as Disney is concerned (and they are not alone), people seem to rush to the courthouse and file a class action lawsuit over every perceived slight. I'm not sure if the lawyers do this for the momentary publicity. No one other than me and Disney's lawyers, so far as I know, has even noticed or cared that these lawsuits were dismissed so the lawyers get publicity with minimal consequences, e.g., lawyer loses kind of articles.

I also suspect that the agreement that applies to AP monthly payments (I haven't seen it) excludes "consequential damages." So, if they improperly debited an account and that caused an overdraft, Disney is only responsible for refunding the amount of the improper debit but don't expect Disney to pay your overdraft fees. And if Disney's agreement doesn't already say this, it will probably say this in the future.

These exclusions are common even if not very well known. When you dropped off film to be developed, you signed nothing but you still agreed that if the developer screwed up in processing the negatives (and this happened with film) the developer would only be responsible for replacing the firm. They won't pay for you to go back to WDW for a week and recreate all the photos that they cost you. If airline cancellations or delays cause you to miss an important job interview or meeting (or an ABD trip, as happened to Kevin and John once) the airline will work with you on rescheduling the flights but they aren't going to pay for your losses from not getting the job, the sale you would have made if you had made it to the meeting, or because you spent the weekend in NYC and missed an ABD trip. Some airlines (looking at you AA), won't even pay for a hotel room if weather causes them to not be able to land the last flight of the day into an airport and forces the flight to divert to a hub.

If having one small monthly payment taken out by accident is going to make you overdrawn at your bank then you need to be looking at your finances and not blaming Disney.

 

[disneysteve]

If having one small monthly payment taken out by accident is going to make you overdrawn at your bank then you need to be looking at your finances and not blaming Disney.

Some people maintain accounts strictly for specific purposes and fund them accordingly. So someone might have an account just for their AP payments and every month, they deposit the funds needed into that account. They might have plenty of money but just not in that particular account. With online banking, it's easy and free to keep a bunch of individual accounts like that.

I don't do it myself, but I know people who do.

 

[jcb]

Turns out the dismissal of the two federal lawsuits was done so the AP holders could file a lawsuit in state court. That worked out well for them because Disney has now promptly removed the case back to federal court.

Disney accuses the plaintiffs of trying to "construct a lawsuit out of facts and circumstances that have caused them no injury." Disney explained that twhile there was unfortunate but "accidental, one-time (and immediately corrected) billing error that resulted in temporary authorization holds being identified on the accounts of monthly-payment plan passholders. Disney quickly detected the error and immediately fixed this issue before funds were actually taken from passholders accounts – and also publicly offered to reimburse passholders who said they had incurred fees or bank charges as a result of the authorization hold being briefly placed on their account."