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March 12, 2012 – Robert Solomon featured in NJ Law Journal for settlement of a class action lawsuit against Medieval Times.
Medieval Measures – Castle-themed dinner theater Medieval Times will pay $525,000 and give out 25,000 free tickets to settle a legal joust.
The federal class-action suit, O’Hara v. Medieval Times USA Inc., alleged the Buena Park, Calif., company flouted the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act – an anti-identity-theft law – by including credit- and debit-card expiration dates on receipts.
Hundreds of class suits against merchants were filed after the FACT Act’s 2006 effective date. A 2008 amendment created a retroactive grace period to achieve compliance, but even after the suits and the amendment were publicized, Medieval Times continued to knowingly use devices that printed violative receipts, says plaintiffs’ attorney Robert Solomon of Nagel Rice in Roseland.
The suit sought damages under the act, which allows for $100 to $1,000 per proven violation. Of the total settlement reached on March 6, $404,750 will be for attorneys’ fees, the rest for class representatives and members – customers who got a noncompliant receipt between June 4, 2008, and Feb. 3, 2010. The tickets have a retail value of about $1.5 million, Solomon says.
Medieval Times operates eight “castles” nationwide, including one in Lyndhurst, that showcase battling knights, horses, games and other entertainment.
Defense lawyer Michael McDonald of Gibbons in Newark did not return a call.
The attorneys at Nagel Rice, LLP represent clients throughout New York and New Jersey in a wide range of matters including personal injury, automobile accidents, brain injuries, medical malpractice, business litigation and class action cases.