‘84 Olympic Ticket Case Is Settled

Nearly four years after the end of the 1984 Olympics and the filing of a class-action lawsuit, a judge told the legal remnant of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee Wednesday to proceed with up to $250,000 in refunds to purchasers of tickets to the men’s basketball semifinals.

While final approval of the settlement in the case is not expected until Aug. 31, Superior Court Judge Barnet M. Cooperman said he favors the terms.

He also ordered that a second mailing giving notice of the refunds be sent to about 3,200 ticket buyers who did not respond to a first notice. Each of those eligible for the refunds will get 40% of their ticket price back.

The people involved had purchased tickets to an event that was listed in the official brochure as “2 games; semifinals, men.” Many did not discover until they arrived at the Forum that, without any announcement, the Olympic committee had split the games into two sessions, doubling its revenue.

Sold Out

Both sessions were sold out, and the ticket buyers were assigned on a random basis to one or the other. Half missed seeing the U.S. team play Canada and instead found themselves seeing Spain play Yugoslavia.

The Olympic committee’s attorney, Marc W. Rappel, portrayed this Wednesday as in accord with traditional Olympic sales practices and described the committee’s motivation as pure.

“At rock bottom, it’s not a complex legal issue,” said Ralph Perry, one of two attorneys who brought the suit. “They screwed these people. They thought they were going to see two games, and they saw one.”

Under terms of the settlement, those entitled to refunds will be given the option of taking the money or donating it to two groups charged with distributing the 1984 Olympic surplus of more than $222 million, the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles or the U.S. Olympic committee.

Much of the discussion at the hearing involved the small number of people who had responded to the refund offer. Of 5,670 buyers sent the offer by mail, 1,207 had changed their addresses and could not be located. Of the others, only about 1,200 requested the refunds or donated the money, and 3,200 did not respond.

The judge said he feared that some had been discouraged from replying by a section of the refund notice--insisted upon by the Olympic committee--that warned that those responding would be subject to perjury charges should they falsify the number of tickets they purchased or the price paid ($25, $45 or $60).

With so much time elapsed, Cooperman suggested, some would not remember and be reluctant to expose themselves to such a possibility. He ordered a second mailing, this time telling the buyers that the Olympic committee had records of what they purchased and would refund 40% of the appropriate amount, if they so request.