Class Action Lawsuit Palace Entertainment

[eddie200330]

http://www.civ211-cv-00987-gllclass-tixnotice.info/

 

This was in an email from the regular Sandcastle mail I normally get. Mostly it is just news about upcoming events and whatnot, but this took me by surprise. I am sure there are quite a few on these forums that fall into this category. I am hesitant to release my personals to these people without first looking into it. If it is not a scam, what he hell, it is a free ticket!

Edited January 7, 2012 by larrygator

[YoshiFan]

I got the e-mail too since I bought tickets for Lake Compounce online last year. I submitted my information since it looked legitimate to me.

[chadster]

Hmmm, seems legit on the surface. Must dig more.

[beatle11]

From what I gather from this, it sounds like they were sued because the receipts issued for credit card/debit payments revealed more than the last 5 digits of the card number.

[larrygator]

Looks legit to me.

 

I dug through my old credit card statements and found that I paid with a credit card for admission on October 23rd, 2010. So I filled out the form, we'll see what happens.

[Moose]

I also got this email.

 

Yoshi (or anyone else that submitted), was there anymore information once you submitted?

I'll have to dig through my files to find purchase dates.

[larrygator]

Jon, Here's a link to the whole class action suit

[Moose]

Thanks Larry.

 

I read the whole suit and did some quick research about the guy that is the "Class Representative." Apparently he is involved in at least of these class suits with companies for this same exact thing. I am not sure if I want to be involved in this, even if it would mean a free day at a park.

[larrygator]

From what I gather from this, it sounds like they were sued because the receipts issued for credit card/debit payments revealed more than the last 5 digits of the card number.

 

Actually the lawsuit is about having your credit card expiration date printed on your receipt.

 

Law360, Washington (August 02, 2011, 6:36 PM ET) -- The operator of the Idlewild and Soak Zone amusement park in Pennyslvania was hit with a customer's proposed class action on Tuesday alleging his credit card receipt from the park illegally showed his card's expiration date.

 

Palace Entertainment Holdings Inc. violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act by continuing to print the expiration date on receipts beyond the law's effective date, according to plaintiff Jeff Hanlon's complaint. FACTA was passed in 2003 to assist in the prevention of identity theft and credit and debit card...

[gisco]

Wow, this is why our court system stinks. The guy bringing the suit gets $2500, the lawyers get up to $390,000. All because an expiration date was printed on a receipt. No one has suffered a loss because of this. What a stupid lawsuit. If you haven't read the settlement, your ticket is only good in June and September 2012, Not good in July or August.

[ginzo]

If anyone should be sued, it should be the US banks for having such crappy credit card security. We should not be using crappy magnetic swipe technology from the 1960s when far more secure options (EMV chip) are readily available.

[Jew]

Wow, this is why our court system stinks. The guy bringing the suit gets $2500, the lawyers get up to $390,000. All because an expiration date was printed on a receipt. No one has suffered a loss because of this. What a stupid lawsuit. If you haven't read the settlement, your ticket is only good in June and September 2012, Not good in July or August.

 

The sad part is, I'm sure this guy does nothing but shop around with his credit card hoping someone prints the expiration date...

[Porsmond]

WOW, they are more strict in the US then??because here in the UK, Its certainly not against the law for shops to print the expiration date of your card on your receipt for something, Some do and some dont, ALL shops have to obviously mark out either part/nearly all of your credit/debit card number for security but thats all.

It seems a bit of an odd lawsuit, cant believe someone would sue about that, but then again nothing suprises me anymore about what people sue for, amazing

[-Edge of Beast-]

I'm really not sure what's going on... Is it involving expiration dates on credit cards and ticket buying? Because that's what I'm hearing.

 

Anyways, you probably shouldn't take that survey.

[BeemerBoy]

I'm really not sure what's going on... Is it involving expiration dates on credit cards and ticket buying? Because that's what I'm hearing.

The answer is actually IN the thread you just posted to. I know, weird, right?

[larrygator]

Well it appears the lawsuit is on the way to being settled

 

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/06/42831.htm

 

 

Amusement Park Giant Settles Receipt Concerns

 

PITTSBURGH (CN) - To settle customer claims that it printed receipts with too much credit card information, Palace Entertainment Holdings will give away 60,000 free-admission tickets for its amusement parks.

 

Chief U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster gave preliminary approval to the settlement on Tuesday. The deal also requires Palace to comply fully with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which fights identity theft by prohibiting companies from printing receipts that display customers' credit card expiration dates.

 

A class action filed in August accused Palace of doing just that, with named plaintiff Jeff Hanlon claiming he received an illegal receipt at the Idlewild & Soak Zone outside Pittsburgh, one of 40 parks owned by the California-based company.

 

Under the settlement, Palace does not admit any wrongdoing, but will provide tickets to customers who allegedly received the receipts at 15 of its parks.

 

The parties agree that the alleged violations didn't result in any monetary injury to class members, according to the 17-page opinion.

 

In the event that Palace receives fewer than 60,000 claims, it will distribute the remaining free-admission tickets to its customers or to children's charities.

 

Lancaster said the settlement appears fair and that he'll consider granting final approval after a March 30 hearing in Pittsburgh

[David H]

You've got to love class action suits like this. Yes, Palace Entertainment did violate the law. So, they should be fined. But the only people who really benefit are the lawyers who get hundreds of thousands of dollars for a couple of hours of filing papers (not a bad payday there, eh?) and the main claimant, who gets 15 grand for making a phone call and putting his name on the suit. Other than their payoff, the rest is actually a win for Palace. The tickets are only for the slowest months (June and September when the parks are the slowest (and often not even open!) So they ge some extra customers into the park to buy food and drinks and pay for parking and other stuff. And with the strong restrictions, few people (you know the actual class that were allegedly mistreated) are going to even get the tickets, since you have to give them the credit card number (well the last 4 digits) of the actual card you used (if you can remember) you used, the DATE you visited (do you remember which date you visited a park back in 2005?) and either the receipt or the credit card statement (who keeps these for moire than a month?) So the vast majority of the tickets will go to charity, which can then probably be used as a tax write off.

[larrygator]

who keeps these for more than a month?

 

I do. Yay, me!

Edited February 4, 2012 by larrygator