Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida
My question(s) has to do with being a season ticket holder with a professional sports team. Our corporation entered a 10 year season ticket license agreement with a professional sports team. In our third year, we have attempted to terminate that agreement, understanding that we would 1) be forfeiting the balance of our deposit and 2) if they chose not to let us out of the contract, we would be in breach of contract by not paying for the tickets. We did not forsee any financial troubles when we traded the seats we had for these new seats. We were regular season ticket holders for 7 years, then upgraded to club season ticket holders 3 years ago, signing a new 10 year agreement.
We did not pay and were notified that we failed to meet our 2009 obligations. We contacted them again, that due to the economic downturn and since our business was new construction and we just didn't have the money, we are just trying to keep our doors open at this point (again, we understand we were under contract). We did not receive any response until now. We received another letter stating we have 10 days to pay and that they were declaring the entire balance of the license fee (7 years of tickets) due and that if we don't perform our obligation it will result in a Demand for Arbitration and Claim of Relief being filed, so my questions:
1. What is a Demand for Arbritration and Claim of Relief?
2. What if they sold our seats for any of the games in 2009? Or if they re-lease the seats for future years? Isn't that "double dipping", then they aren't out any monies, they still own the seats and received payment for the seats.
3. Don't they have to sue all season ticket holders that did not perform their obligations? Or can they pick and choose? And should that information be made available to us if we ask.
I know we signed the contract, no one forced us to. But if they still can resell the seats (supposedly they have a waiting list) and if they do, how can they also demand the money from us? Someone obviously broke there contract with them prior to us owning the seats, because they became available prior to 10 years and they were not sued (I checked). We just aren't sure how to proceed with this. Our company simply does not have the money for the "luxury" expenses anymore. Do we stand a chance to just forfeit our deposit and get out of the balance?
3 Answers from Attorneys
1. The demand for arbitration and claim for relief is in essence a lawsuit. Under the contract (I suspect) there is an arbitration clause, which means that disputes will be resolved before an arbitrator rather than a judge.
2. The stadium should mitigate its damages. If it can re-sell the seats, you are not obligated to pay (or only obligated to pay the difference in price). However, you would be best served by trying to re-sell the seats yourself.
3. The stadium can sue or not without justification. They do not have to disclose their prior litigation history to you, although you can ask.
I believe you do stand a chance to just forfeit your deposit. But, you will need to do some negotiating (remaining silent and walking away will not likely leave you in a good position). Again, I suggest you list the tickets for sale.
Ms. Grosse gave you an excellent response.
Instead of bringing you to court, they are bringing you to Arbitration, which will be a bit less formal. This was probably covered in your original agreement. If they sold your seats, that will reduce their damages against your company. You will need to find out if they did so. You will still have to pay any difference or loss that was incurred as a result of your breach or as specified in your contract. They can sue whoever they want. Whether they choose to do so is up to them. You may be responsible for their litigation costs as well, depending on what the contract says. Regards,
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