A federal judge in San Diego has dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought by SeaWorld patrons who claimed they were deceived about how the marine park treats orcas.
The federal judge last week said that the plaintiffs didn't meet the standard to bring the lawsuit on behalf of an entire class of patrons of SeaWorld parks in San Antonio, San Diego and Orlando.
The judge said the plaintiffs never showed that they had viewed any deceptive statements by SeaWorld before buying tickets and that they also lacked specificity in their claims that SeaWorld made misrepresentations.
"Here, there is no chance of the plaintiffs being misled by SeaWorld's alleged false statements and omissions concerned the treatment of whales at SeaWorld parks as the (complaint) does not allege that plaintiffs ever believed or relied on any statements by SeaWorld concerning the whales, and it is clear that the plaintiffs do not intend to visit the SeaWorld parks again," U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo said in her order.
Paul Rothstein, a Gainesville, Florida attorney representing some of the plaintiffs, was unavailable to immediately comment on Monday. Steve Berman, an attorney in Seattle who represented another group of plaintiffs, also was unavailable.
SeaWorld has been in the crosshairs of animal rights activists, and experienced a drop in revenue, since the 2013 release of the documentary "Blackfish." The movie chronicled the case of Tilikum, a killer whale that caused the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010.
In November, SeaWorld San Diego announced it will phase out its iconic killer whale show as early as next year and replace it with a conservation-based show.
U.S. & World
Instead of the killer whale show as it exists now, Manby said SeaWorld San Diego will launch a new orca experience in a natural setting, focusing on the behavior of whales in the wild. The shows will continue at parks in Orlando, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas.
Additionally, SeaWorld will partner with Evans Hotels as they begin to explore the idea of putting a hotel in some of their parking lot space and the surrounding areas, just off San Diego's Mission Bay.
The California Coastal Commission, meanwhile, has required that SeaWorld ban breeding in captivity if it wanted to build a new killer whale enclosure. The ban would only apply to California properties.
