Travel Agent Not Liable for Mistakenly Charging Incorrect Credit Card
Gitelman, et al. v. GoGo Worldwide Vacations, GoGo Tours, Inc., et al., Index No. 22004/13 (Sup. Ct. Queens Co. Feb. 20, 2018)
Mound Cotton won summary judgment in favor of its clients, GoGo Worldwide Vacations and GoGo Tours, Inc., in New York Supreme Court, Queens County. Plaintiffs, seeking to travel from New York to Florida for vacation, provided a credit card number to a travel agent, who then provided the credit card number to GoGo, a vacation package wholesaler, who in turn provided the credit card number to Delta Airlines. Somewhere in this process two credit card numbers were transposed and another person’s credit card was charged. This other person notified the police of the wrongful charge and the police intercepted plaintiffs at the airport on the day of their intended flight. The police then held plaintiffs in New York until an investigation revealed that the wrong credit card had been mistakenly charged. In filing suit against the various individuals and entities involved in the transaction and police investigation, plaintiffs sought to recover damages for negligence, intentional torts, and negligent infliction of emotional distress relating to the police department’s questioning and mishandling of the credit card information.
While finding that a question of fact existed as to which individual or entity was responsible for charging the wrong credit card, the court granted summary judgment in GoGo’s favor. The court held that plaintiffs were unable to establish 1) damages as a result of an alleged breach and 2) that their claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress possessed some guarantee of genuineness of mental anguish. The court also found that their intentional tort claims were barred by the statute of limitations.
GoGo Tours was represented by partners William D. Wilson and Steven A. Torrini, and associate Katharine Anne Lechleitner.