Matter of Fyre Festival Litigation

OPINION AND ORDER The Fyre Festival was promoted as a luxury music event to take place in the Bahamas on two consecutive weekends in April 2017. The event was cancelled on the morning of the first day, leaving some guests stranded without transportation or suitable accommodations. This Opinion and Order does not address whether Fyre Media, Inc. (“Fyre Media”) breached its contractual commitments to guests or whether it perpetrated a fraud on anyone. The issue on the pending motions is whether plaintiffs have stated claims for relief against two individuals affiliated with Fyre Media and the Fyre Festival, defendants Jeffrey Atkins, known as Ja-Rule, and Grant Margolin.Plaintiffs Daniel Jung, Lauren Mainero, Matthew Herlihy, Anthony Lauriello, Ritu Jutla, Hallie Wilson, and Zenovia Pittas bring this diversity action alleging theories of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, negligence, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and related claims, as well as state statutory claims under the laws of New York, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §349, California, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§17200 et seq., 17500 et seq., Cal. Civil Code §1750 et seq., Colorado, Col. Rev. Stat. §6-1-102(6) et seq., and Illinois, Ill. Comp. Stat. §§505 et seq., 510/2 et seq. They seek to pursue their claims on behalf of a class of similarly situated persons.Defendants Margolin and Atkins now separately move to dismiss all claims asserted against them in the Second Consolidated Amended Complaint (“SCAC”) pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed. R. Civ. P. For reasons to be explained, the motions will be granted.BACKGROUNDThe following facts are taken from the plaintiffs’ SCAC and exhibits attached to the SCAC and are construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs. Sung Cho v. City of New York, 910 F.3d 639, 642 n.1 (2d Cir. 2018).A. The PartiesPlaintiffs are ticket buyers or attendees of the Fyre Festival who are domiciled in California, Colorado, New York, Illinois, and the United Kingdom. (SCAC

21-28.) They seek to represent a world-wide class of ticketholders and attendees. (Id. 116.)¹Plaintiffs allege that Atkins was founder, owner, director and a corporate officer of Fyre Media, directed the policies of Fyre Media, and was responsible for overall business strategy. (Id.