covid Brides! Has anyone filed a small claims case against a venue due to Covid?

I have not done this but I expect you will end up spending more on lawyers and court fees than the cost of your deposit.

If you signed a contract that says the deposit is non-refundable, I'm not sure you have any case. Like the person above me said, you'll probably end up spending more on legal fees than you would getting the deposit back.

I hate to say it, but unless your deposit is $10,000+ pursuing a claim probably won’t be all that beneficial to you. You will likely spend more on lawyer fees than what you will recoup. If the deposit is a small amount, you are probably better off just letting the matter go, and saving yourself additional time, money and stress.

If your contract literally says "non-refundable," you may end up exhausting more energy and expense in attorney's fees. Was the venue open on your date, or closed by government mandate? If it was open, but you chose not to hold your wedding because of other COVID restrictions or safety concerns (all of which are totally understandable), you'd probably have even less of a case.

Your contract says non-refundable and you agreed. Why on earth are you pursuing this? It's very black and white that you will not get your deposit back.

Have you spoken with a lawyer yet? That is the only way to know if this is a good idea for you, or not. How much money was your deposit?

You wrote: "The venue refuses to return the deposit merely because the contract says non-refundable." This seems VERY clear cut to me and just because you added the word "merely" or think this is unfair does not make this unfair. This is the reason for contracts and legal language.

If you chose to move your wedding on your own accord without the venue forcing you, or the venue being closed, then you won’t get your deposit back.

Hi Ladies! Wow thanks for all the comments. Yes we've spoken to a couple lawyers who we are acquainted with and they are guiding us in the right direction. We will be pursuing small claims.

It makes sense now that I am unable to find many small claims stories because it seems like most couples are just foregoing their deposits (based on the comments I received so far).

Please only comment if you have experience or if you know of any other Bridal story that you can share. Let's all stay positive during this time. xoxo

Personally, I would love to sue the 💩 out of my venue, but I feel like the court system sucks and it probably won’t work in my favor. I don’t think faults advertisement laws exist anymore or something LOL. I’ve been thinking about how lucrative it is to start a wedding business and collect deposits from people and then tell them that they are canceling the wedding and keep the money. If the court doesn’t viewed as a scam then I don’t know what is a scam

View Quoted Comment I hear you, but if that’s the case then people can make a business off of scamming other people very easily. She also signed a contract to have a wedding on X date. They agreed by also signing the contract to have her wedding on X date. Once they can no longer have her wedding on X date they are breaking their contract. In that case I would think she should be reimbursed, otherwise you can make a very lucrative business off of scamming people out of their deposits Contracts work both ways. If they can’t hold up to their contract then they’re breaking their own contract. But I don’t know that’s just how I see it

View Quoted Comment Totally get what you are saying. I think there is a lot of important missing information from OP’s story. She just states that they were not able to have the wedding on the original date, but doesn’t cite the reason why. I know a lot of venues were hosting weddings this last Fall because infection rates had dropped so much during the summer that many restrictions around events have been lifted. So was this a case of not being able to hold the wedding because the venue wasn’t open due to mandates? Or was the venue able to hold the wedding, but the bride and groom preferred to reschedule it? If it was the former, then the couple should have been able to reschedule the wedding. If it was the latter, then the couple would be held to the contract. She also states that they asked to reschedule multiple times throughout the year and were told no, but didn’t elaborate on why. As I’m sure we all know by now, nearly all venues made couples wait until at least two months out from their wedding to postpone, in order to see what the restrictions would be at that time and whether or not they would be able to host the wedding as contracted. Was the couple trying to reschedule way before 30-60 days out from the wedding, and that is why they were denied? There are just so many missing variables here that can completely change the narrative. Without the answers to those questions, it is impossible to determine who was in the “right” (in terms of the law, that is).

Small claims can be tricky - some states won’t allow you to have a lawyer, and the cut off really varies. Some states the max is $3k, and I don’t think any go above 20k (could be wrong of course!).
I know two people who have been successful - one was about getting a rent deposit back and they had texts from the landlord proving their case. The other was against a car wash and her dash cam footage won it. So it’s not impossible.
If your contract has *some* exceptions for the non-refundable and it’s just that you don’t meet the exception, that will be harder to prove. But if it’s a contract that says no refund ever, then that might give you leeway. A contract is supposed to have a consideration - you give them something (money) and they give you something (wedding). If the contract is you give them money and if they don’t provide the service you don’t get your money back even if it was their fault, that may not be a tight contract. Read all the fine print and if there are situations where a refund is issued, try to fit your situation into that, and you may have success. I am NOT a lawyer but I deal with contracts for my job and sometimes have to be very firm with vendors.

Oh and one more thing - look in the contract for descriptions of the opportunities to “cure.” If they didn’t allow you the opportunities listed, then that could be a breach. They have to be reasonable and industry standard things, though.

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Exactly! Maybe we all should open a wedding business if it was this easy to scam couples who have given them all their hard earned savings for a "dream wedding". I know it's a scary thought to go to court but I'm going to continue to move forward because I feel like the fight in itself is worth it. Don't give up hope!

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Hi Ava, thank you for your message. My post was intended to be vague because I wanted to see if other people are going through small claims. I wasn't posting to ask whether or not I have a viable case. I appreciate the thoughtful message nonetheless.

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Wow amazing insight Samantha, thank you! If I wouldn't have known, I would have thought you're a lawyer.

View Quoted Comment Oh no, I totally understand. My message was actually directed to the person I responded to. I was just trying to say that we don’t know all the details of your case, so it may not be so “cut & dry” as the poster was trying to make it out to be. I am sure it is much more complicated and involved than that. Nobody could’ve ever possibly foreseen a worldwide pandemic, and there are soooooo many variables from both sides of contracts that are unprecedented. I do wish you luck on your case though!

View Quoted Comment I cant agree with you more! These wedding industry people are ruthless. I’m so glad to hear you’re taking action. If my wedding gets anymore messed up by June I’m going to try to see action if anything happens with them screwing me out of money. Good luck and thanks for posting!!!!

View Quoted Comment Noooo I am not smart or dedicated enough for that. And contract law is so convoluted at times.
One thing I do always tell people is there is no such thing as a contract that can’t be broken. A GOOD contract lays out the penalty for for breaking it, and options to cure issues that come up. But you can’t physically force someone to do labor. You can have penalties and consequences when they don’t do it though!

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There are no lawyers in small claims court, so no lawyer fees. And court fees aren't expensive.