Expedia Ordered to Pay $184 Million Settlement
A King County Superior Court judge ruled on May 28 that Expedia, the world's leading online travel booking site, must pay $184 million for repeatedly breaching its contractual obligations to consumers by charging service fees under false pretenses in millions of hotel transactions. The judgment is the largest in Washington state history for a consumer class action.
Filed in 2005, the suit claimed that the travel giant paid taxes based on the wholesale price, but collected taxes from consumers based the higher retail price, pocketing the difference. Further investigation revealed the there was also a 'service fee' to each transaction, purporting to cover the company's expenses incurred in servicing a reservation.
According to court documents, Expedia bundled the service-fee charges with taxes into a single line item, failing to disclose the separate amounts of each to consumers. Because Expedia only remits taxes based on the wholesale price -- which it never disclosed to consumers -- the taxes appear higher to consumers than they actually are, and Expedia is able to mask the considerable size of its service fees.
In its Terms of Use agreement, which governs every hotel transaction, Expedia promised that it would collect service fees only to "cover the costs" of servicing a given hotel reservation. The Court found that Expedia breached that promise by collecting service fees as pure profit.
Superior Court Judge Monica Benton ruled that Expedia collected a total of $184,470,452 in service fees, which she is ordering the company return to consumers who purchased hotel or travel packages including a hotel stay from Feb. 18, 2003 to Dec. 11, 2006.
JUN-01-09: Expedia to Pay Consumers $184 Million for Breach of Contract [PRNEWSWIRE: EXPEDIA MUST PAY CONSUMERS FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT]
Legal Help
If you have a similar problem and would like to be contacted by a lawyer at no cost or obligation, please click the link below.
Related Law Suits
Expedia Law Suit and Settlement
Expedia Class Action Settlement Proposed for $123.4 Million Law Suit and Settlement
$7.5 Million Settlement Proposed in Gillette M3P Power Razor Class Action Law Suit and Settlement
Native American Farmers, Ranchers and USDA Reach Historic Settlement Law Suit and Settlement
City of Fargo Reaches Potential Settlement in Traffic Fines Class Action Law Suit and Settlement
Comcast Agrees Tentative $16 Million Settlement in Consumer File Sharing Class Action Law Suit and Settlement
Junk Faxes Class Action Settlement Law Suit and Settlement
Settlement Proposed in Class Action Against Facebook Law Suit and Settlement
Comverse Shareholder Settlement Agreed at $225 Million Law Suit and Settlement
Preliminary Settlement Reached With Soleus International Law Suit and Settlement
See more stories from this source.
Class Action Law Suits
Newsworthy Law Suits
Defective Products Lawsuits
Discrimination Lawsuits
Drug & Medical Claims Lawsuits
Food & Dietary Supplement Lawsuits
Insurance Lawsuits
Malpractice Lawsuits
Personal Injury Lawsuits
Real Estate Lawsuits
Investment Fraud Lawsuits
Related Law Articles
is===1Related Law Questions
Related Law Bulletins
Lawyers! Become an Approved Expert to Answer Questions.
Apply Now!
You'll get lots of targetted traffic to your website and new client leads!
is===1
