Man Files Lawsuit Against Vail Resorts to Refund Tahoe Epic Pass Following Coronavirus Closure
A California man has filed a class-action lawsuit against Vail Resorts seeking compensation for his season pass purchased for the entire season, with Vail’s 34 North American resorts closing early due to the Coronavirus. The lawsuit, filed on April 10th, claims that Vail has retained 100 percent of passholder fees while closing 100 percent of its mountains at an early date on March 14th.
San Ramon resident Brian Ramon was the plaintiff named in the lawsuit, who bought a Tahoe Local Value Epic Pass for $499 in June 2019. The pass promises mountain access from October 2019 to June 2020 as long as there’s snow, a promise that Vail was unable to fulfill due to Coronavirus closures.
“Plaintiff signed up for Defendant’s annual pass with the understanding that he would be able to access Defendant’s resorts from October 2019 through June 2020, so long as there was snow on the mountains,” reads the lawsuit. “Plaintiff would not have paid for the annual pass, or would not have paid for it on the same terms, had he known that he would not have access to any of Defendant’s resorts.”
Hunt is seeking to have each case certified for all Vail passholders nationwide, which would equate to roughly $5 million in court fees, according to the lawsuit.
“On March 25, 2020, Defendant notified passholders that it closed all 34 of its North American resorts,” continues the lawsuit. “Defendant has retained the full amount of his annual pass fee even though Plaintiff does not have access to any of Defendant’s resorts. Further, Defendant has not refunded Plaintiff any part of his annual pass fee for March 25 through the present, when Defendant’s resorts were closed (and continue to remain closed).”
“Defendant has unjustly enriched itself by retaining passholder fees of hundreds of thousands of consumers – while denying passholders all access to all of Defendant’s mountain resorts.”
Does Hunt have a case against Vail Resorts? And if so, will passholders nationwide see some sort of refund or future discount?
