If you are one of the people who have just been a victim of MoviePass, then you might have already heard about a lawsuit filed against MoviePass. The lawsuit filed by two individuals claiming to be MoviePass users claims that they were defrauded and their identities were stolen. What is interesting about this lawsuit is that there are no clear statements as to what exactly happened. MoviePass did not respond to requests for comment regarding the matter and no evidence has been found that they violated any laws. This article will explain why it is important that you read up on what you should know about this lawsuit and how you can protect yourself from fraud.
The story begins when David Williams was charged with grand theft and he was subsequently removed from an airplane. He claimed that he had purchased a ticket using his credit card, which then showed up on his credit report as being used without his knowledge or consent. Subsequently, the Theater Company in Atlanta, Georgia sent a cease and desist order to the theater chain saying that they were conducting business using counterfeit tickets. Williams claims that he bought the tickets at the Dolby Theatre and entered into a contract with the Theater Company to use MoviePass to get tickets to the movie, which he was scheduled to see. As proof, he presented a copy of his movie pass receipt at the courthouse.
The problem with this story is that nothing came of it and no action was taken. A few months later, the same thing happened again. This time the Theater Company lost a legal battle with the Transportation Safety Administration. Here, the Ticket Master company used a fake ID to get a ticket for the seat in front of the user.
Upon discovery of this situation, the Theater Company and Ticket Master changed their ways and implemented verification measures to prevent this from happening again. According to the theater chain, they did not allow anyone to purchase tickets from the system using a fake ID. The company further claims that they have in place a video camera and a scanner to screen out fake ID before letting them through the turnstiles. However, one of the users got through the turnstile and turned out to be a thief. He had a ticket in his pocket and when the Theater Company employee tried to check the ticket, the thief threw it in the air and missed the employee.
In a related incident, a movie pass holder was detained because he had a gun holster on his belt. The ticket that the user tried to give to the security guard turned out to be a fake gun holster. After the dispute between the employee, the security guards called the police. Because the ticket was fake, the claim for damages was thrown out by the court.
Although there was only one false ID logged as a MoviePass user, these two incidents still make the system questionable. To date, the only MoviePass lawsuit filed was the Tamie suit. The Tamie suit was for $6 million, which the Theater System lost. The company had to pay out over three-hundred and forty thousand dollars in damages because they had to print new ID cards for each user. The system is being redesigned and eventually the lawsuits should be resolved.
