Here’s the Ticket
Class Action Lawsuits
On the legal front, the storm clouds are still swirling as the attacks keep coming. Lawsuits were filed against Chuck E Cheese (has been settled), Denney’s, Boomers FEC and other chains alleging illegal gaming violations. The latest salvo are 2 class action lawsuits against SEGA. This is the first I can recollect seeing a class action complaint against our industry. It might make more sense to see a class action suit against owners of ‘wishing wells’ brought by all those who have tossed in coins and their wishes did not come true.
Class Action Lawsuits. As first reported in Replay, a law firm has filed two class action lawsuits in New York and California against SEGA for alleged state law violations over the merchandise dispensing game ‘Key Master.’ Both complaints state that the game “is set to only distribute a prize after a certain amount of money has been put into the machine, regardless of whether the player is successful at the object of, and therefore ‘wins,’ the game according to the pictorial instructions on the machines.”
Lawyers are always looking to score large paydays and a class action suit is uncommon in our industry mainly because we are such a small industry. However, in this situation, the plaintiffs have chosen a popular game made by a large company and filed in the two highest population states. Their success hinges on being able to sign up large numbers of people who have played the game and can substantiate how much they spent, how many times they played, how many times they did not succeed and how many times they won the prize. SEGA Amusements President, Paul Williams, stated that “SEGA cannot comment on specifics of on-going litigation, but we are ‘confident that the lawsuit is without merit and we will defend it vigorously.”
Both complaints also contend that the game is set to only dispense a prize after a certain amount of money has been put into the game. The suit claims that the game violates a New York deceptive practices law and the common law ‘prohibition against unjust enrichment.’ Under California law, the suit claims the game violates both the Consumers Legal Remedies Act and the Unfair Competition Law.
What this could mean. Several legal arguments for dismissal come to mind. There are thousands of examples where a person’s skill in succeeding in the object of a game or contest are more or less difficult than the preceding player or the previous attempt. Both internal and external factors can have influences on performance. There are many instances where a skilled player has won with a very high frequency. TRR believes that these lawsuits against SEGA will not prevail but even so, the publicity does not help.
RePlay summarized it best. “Both plaintiffs will have to convince a court to create a class of fellow plaintiffs in order for the class action cases to go forward. Plaintiffs pursue class action lawsuits in cases where the alleged damages are similar enough to be tried together and not enough individually to make a stand-alone lawsuit economically feasible.”
