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The lawyers behind class action lawsuits accusing theme park operator Six Flags of including too many credit and debit card account numbers on receipts for purchases made in their parks, could be in line for a $1.7 million payout, under a settlement deal that would send certain Six Flags customers only $13 to $27 each.
This week, a Lake County judge is expected to consider granting final approval to a settlement agreement between a group of Six Flags customers and the Texas-based operator of amusement parks throughout the U.S.
The settlement would end a group of four class action lawsuits, that have been contested in Lake County Circuit Court since 2017.
Daniel A. Edelman
| edcombs.com
The lawsuits all accuse Six Flags of allegedly violating the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) for allegedly giving customers receipts that included 12 digits of their credit or debit card account numbers.
Under the FACTA law, merchants are forbidden from printing receipts that contain more than the last four digits of a customers’ credit or debit card account numbers.
The first such class action suit was filed by plaintiffs Hugo and Sharon Soto, who claimed they received such an allegedly improper receipt when they purchased food while visiting Six Flags Great America in north suburban Gurnee, in Lake County.
Three other lawsuits were later filed on behalf of other Six Flags customers in courts in Georgia, New Jersey and California. Those lawsuits level similar allegations over purchases made at Six Flags parks in those states, and elsewhere in the country.
After Six Flags failed to disembark from the class actions, the company and the plaintiffs entered settlement talks.
Late last year, the parties presented the Lake County court with an agreement.
Under the deal, Six Flags agreed to establish a settlement fund of $450,000. From that settlement fund, Six Flags would provide $13 vouchers for use at any Six Flags property to Six Flags members and season pass holders who visited Six Flags parks from October 2016 to September 2017, and used a credit or debit card to purchase food or other items within the park on those visits.
If customers can provide actual receipts or credit or debit card statements proving their purchase, they could get a cash payment of $27 instead.
The settlement, however, could deliver $1.7 million in fees to the lawyers who filed the class actions - more than three times the amount given to the alleged victims under the class action.
Those attorneys included Daniel A. Edelman, and others with the firm of Edelman Combs Latturner & Goodwin, of Chicago; Eric A. Grover, and others with the firm of Keller Grover, of San Francisco; and attorneys with the firms of Gaines & Gaines, of Calabasas, Calif.; Lacy Price & Wagner, of Knoxville, Tenn.; The Law Offices of Shimshon Wexler, of Decatur, Ga.; and attorney Curtis C. Warner, of New York.
The settlement would allow them to request fees up to that amount. The final amount of attorney fees must be approved by a judge.
A final approval hearing was scheduled for June 18, according to case documents posted online.
Six Flags has been represented by attorneys with the firms of Pedersen & Houpt, of Chicago, and Norton Rose Fulbright US, of Los Angeles.