May 2, 1983

Mr. C. A. 'Chuck' Schuknecht 
Manager 
South Dakota State Fair 
Post Office Box 1275 
Huron, South Dakota 57350

Official Opinion No. 83-14

State Fair's liability to ticketholders of cancelled grandstand show

Dear Mr. Schuknecht:

You have requested an opinion from this office in regard to the following factual situation:

FACTS: 

On August 31, 1982, Barbara Mandrell was scheduled to perform at the South Dakota State Fair.  Just prior to her appearance on that date, a sudden storm forced a cancellation of her performance.  A total of ninety-three thousand three hundred two dollars ($93,302.00) worth of tickets had been sold for the two scheduled Mandrell shows.  An announcement was made to those present at the grandstand that refunds of money paid would be made as soon as possible after the close of the Fair on September 6th. 

The day following the rain out, September 1st, press, radio and television carried news releases stating that refunds would be made as soon after the close of the Fair as possible and instructing ticketholders to send their tickets and a stamped self-addressed envelope to the Fair office.  Ticketholders were also advised that they could trade in their Mandrell tickets for other yet to be held grandstand shows.  Tickets with a value of three thousand four hundred sixty-two dollars ($3,462.00) were traded for other stage shows.  The day after the Fair closed, September 7th, ticketholders were again advised through the media how they could secure their refunds. 

The Fair staff started to process refunds on September 7th, but did not  mail the checks until all that had been sent in at that time had been processed.  On September 29th, all processed checks were mailed and news releases again were made and carried on all the media advising that the refunds had been mailed and again asking that all unredeemed tickets be sent to the Fair by no later than October 31st.  Paid ads were then purchased in all daily papers in the state and were run on October 8th and October 15th, 1982, advising all ticketholders desiring a refund to send in their tickets by no later than October 31st. 

As of March 23, 1983, the State Fair has one thousand two hundred ninety-eight dollars ($1,298.00) in unredeemed ticket monies from the Mandrell concert plus sixteen thousand six hundred ninety-eight dollars ($16,698.00) which will be used to offset additional costs incurred by the State Fair Commission in processing ticket refunds.

Based on the above facts, you have asked the following question:

QUESTION: 

Is the South Dakota State Fair Commission liable to honor any refund requests that may yet come in or has the responsibility to make refunds been discharged by its actions to date?

The Barbara Mandrell concert tickets represent a contract between the  ticketholder and the State Fair and, therefore, contract law principles must be applied to answer your question.  In attempting to make refunds to ticketholders, the State Fair Commission complied with the general rule that a party who wishes to rescind a contract must restore to the other party everything of value he has received under it.  See generally, 17 Am.Jur.2d, CONTRACTS, §  512.  The State Fair Commission's efforts to make refunds, however, does not extinguish its liability to the unpaid ticketholders.  Legal actions brought upon a contract against the State may be commenced at any time within one year after the cause of action has accrued.  SDCL 21-32-2.  Consequently, your auditors should treat the unclaimed ticket monies as a liability rather than as income until one year has expired from the date of the concert's cancellation.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark V. Meierhenry
Attorney General