Viagogo Hidden Fees Class Action Lawsuit Approved

A new defendant joined a province-wide class action lawsuit against some of Quebec’s 15 most popular secondary market event ticket sellers, including, among others, StubHub, Vivid Seats, Ticketnetwork, FanXchange and Ticketmaster. Viagogo AG, who was included in the class action when it was initially proposed, was finally authorized as a defendant in January 2020, about five years after the initial class action proposal.

The secondary market event ticket sales class action targeted online ticket sales companies who allegedly violated Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act. The key charge against the defendants, including Viagogo, is that they charged a higher price than that advertised for their tickets through hidden fees that are added to the ticket price after the first step of the purchase process.

The hidden fees class action lawsuit further alleges that the defendants unlawfully sold tickets to consumers above face value, resulting in another violation of Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act.

The plaintiff’s lawyers presented successive screenshots of Viagogo’s website in court, illustrating that a Montréal Canadiens game against the Red Wings of Detroit on December 14, 2019, had an initial price of $66 per ticket, but increased to $90 due to handling and booking fees and taxes.

All of the defendants, besides for Viagogo, have agreed to settle the secondary market event ticket sales class action and modify the way they display tickets online to Quebec consumers.

Class Members include consumers residing in Quebec at the time of purchase, who, starting June 23, 2013, purchased at least one ticket from Viagogo’s website or mobile application, while physically in Quebec.

Additionally, to be included in the class action lawsuit, Class Members must have:

• Purchased the ticket at a price above that announced by the vendor authorized to sell the tickets by the producer of the event; and/or,
• Paid more than the price advertised by Viagogo on its website and/or mobile application at the first step of purchase, excluding taxes.

Importantly, those eligible as Class Members will automatically be included in the class action.

The hidden fees class action lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages for the difference between the amounts overpaid for tickets and the face value of the tickets. Additionally, the class action requests that Viagogo pay $300 per transaction per Class Member on account of punitive damages. Finally, the plaintiff is seeking a court order requiring Viagogo to permanently cease selling tickets for more than the tickets’ face value to consumers residing and located in the province of Quebec.

Viagogo: A “Long Journey”

From the outset, Viagogo, a company based in Switzerland, was one of the 15 defendants involved in the 2015 application for authorization of the class action. However, issues arose regarding Viagogo’s defendant status.

The hidden fees class action lawsuit embarked on a “long journey” involving Viagogo, upon serving the company in Geneva, according to the class action proposal. The first issue is the fact that Viagogo initially refused to hire a lawyer to represent the company in the hidden fees class action. Another issue was that Viagogo maintained that the allegations against the other defendants were insufficient to apply to the company, as it had few commercial activities in Quebec.

Finally, in 2019, Viagogo hired lawyers to represent the company.

On December 19, 2019, the Superior Court held a hearing to debate whether the hidden fees class action should be authorized with respect to Viagogo. A concern was that the lawsuit primarily targets defendants associated with Ticketmaster and StubHub, with few allegations specifically directed at Viagogo. This situation gave rise a challenge as to Viagogo’s status as a defendant in the secondary market event ticket sales class action lawsuit.

However, the Superior Court of Québec found that Viagogo was, indeed, a valid defendant in the hidden fees class action lawsuit. Among its reasons, the Court highlighted the fact that, as per Quebec class action procedure, the plaintiff only needs to establish a direct link to one of the defendants, in this case StubHub, as opposed to all the other defendants. Furthermore, the Court found that the modus operandi and business model of all the defendants were analogous, and as such, the legal question was deemed sufficiently similar.

Did you pay excessive prices for live event tickets or encountered hidden fees when purchasing tickets? Tell us your story in the comments below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Joey Zukran of LPC Avocats Inc.

The Secondary Market Event Ticket Sales Class Action Lawsuit is Abihsira v. Stubhub Inc., et al., Case No. 500-06-000754-156, in the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montreal, Canada.

Read More Lawsuit & Settlement News:

StubHub Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over Refusing Ticket Refunds

Ticketmaster Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over Refund Policy

Airline Ticket Cancellations Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic May Lead to Class Action Lawsuit

StubHub Reaches $1.3M Settlement Over Misleading Ticket Pricing in Canada