Christina Spicer  |  March 1, 2021

Category: Legal News

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Brown Paper Tickets owe millions in event proceeds and refunds, claims Washington lawsuit

Brown Paper Tickets, an online ticketer specializing in smaller community events, may owe ticket holders and event organizers millions of dollars in the US and in Canada after failing to pay for COVID cancellations.

A lawsuit filed by Washington State against Brown Paper Tickets alleges that it owes more than $6.75 million to consumers across the US. The state’s Attorney General’s Office noted in an announcement that it had received 583 complaints from residents about the company not issuing refunds. The Office estimates that over 80,000 people in the US have been affected by Brown Paper’s conduct.

“Beginning in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent restrictions on public gatherings resulted in the cancellations of many live events. Brown Paper Tickets has failed to remit payment to event organizers for events that took place and has failed to provide refunds to ticket buyers who purchased tickets for canceled or rescheduled events,” alleges the Washington State lawsuit.

The company has been in business for more than two decades, but the more than 1,200 consumer complaints over the past year caught the agency’s attention, notes the BBB website.

Community event organizers have reported waiting over a year for events that were canceled last spring due to COVID-19. Organizers at a high school in Wisconsin told local reporters that they, as well as the schools and ticket holders, are owed thousands by Brown Paper after their play was canceled last spring.

“We were supposed to do the Sound of Music at the beginning of April last year,” explained one of the organizers to a local NBC affiliate, stating that family and friends who purchased tickets to the canceled event never saw their money back from Brown Paper. “Our poor ticket holders who were just trying to support our local high school theatre production are out all of this money.”

Canadian event organizers and performers also say that Brown Paper failed to pay them and their audiences, according to CBC News. Several community event organizers told reporters that the company has been holding proceeds and refunds for more than a year now.

In September of 2020, the company issued a COVID-19 recovery statement promising better communication in the future.

“While we can’t offer an estimated timeline for your specific refund at this moment, our team has been and continues to initiate full refunds,” said Founder & President William Scott Jordan in the letter. “It’s a long process with thousands of events canceled, postponed, or abandoned. Like many businesses, we were unprepared for a crisis of this scale, but we are making headway.”

Community organizers owed refunds by Brown Paper told reporters that it was concerning that the company was still offering event services.

“The scary thing for me is that you can still go onto Brown Paper Tickets and people can still book an event,” stated one Wisconsin organizer.

Are you waiting for a refund or event proceeds from Brown Paper Tickets? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.

The State of Washington is represented by Craig Rader and Marc Worthy, Assistant Attorneys General for the State of Washington.

The Brown Paper Tickets Lawsuit is State of Washington v. Brown Paper Tickets, LLC, Case No. 20-2-14549-1, State of Washington, King County Superior Court.

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