Revenue / 08.09.18

Ticketfly Given Go-Ahead to Pursue Pemberton Chargeback Funds

Access Staff

Original article published on Pollstar (08/09/18) by Sarah Pittman

A British Columbia judge has permitted Ticketfly to file a claim to recover the chargeback funds it had to pay after fans of the bankrupt Pemberton Music Festival secured refunds for canceled tickets. When the event was canceled three months before the annual festival's opening, ticketholders were advised to file a proof of claim form as an unsecured creditor with Ernst & Young or contact their bank or credit card issuer to request refunds. About 80 percent of ticketholders got refunds via their credit card companies, which collected chargebacks from Ticketfly. The latest court decision entailed reviewing the bankruptcy trustee's disallowance decision about Ticketfly's claim for chargebacks. Ticketfly had initially filed a claim for $7.9 million in June 2017, the trustee disallowed the claim in November 2017, the claim was amended, and a revised disallowance was issued in January 2018. Supreme Court of British Columbia Madam Justice Iyer determined "that the trustee's disallowance of the subrogated claims was a palpable and overriding error and cannot stand." The error concerned interpreting language in the service agreement between Huka Entertainment and Ticketfly with respect to ticketing for the festival. "Ticketfly's subrogated claim on the basis that it is not Huka's agent is also inconsistent with the trustee's acceptance that Ticketfly is subrogated to the ticketholders' claims," Iyer wrote. Ticketfly has until Aug. 31 to file its claim for the chargebacks to the trustee, including the names of ticketholders, the total purchase price for the tickets, and the chargeback amount.

Read the full story on the Pollstar website.

Tags: Music , Regulations , News