SeaWorld Entertainment has scored a legal victory with the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming the company defrauded visitors to its theme parks about the treatment of its killer whales.

A U.S. District Court judge in San Diego, in a ruling last Thursday, found no basis for multiple claims made by the plaintiffs, who had visited the San Diego, San Antonio and Orlando marine parks at various times over a three-year period.

The case, which was a consolidation of three lawsuits, alleged that the SeaWorld parks deliberately concealed the treatment of its whales, claiming, among other things, that the orcas were confined to cramped conditions and that calves were separated from their mothers.

The customers filing suit sought refunds for visitors to the parks on the grounds they would not have purchased admission tickets had they known how the animals were being cared for. The case was also seeking class action status.


In granting SeaWorld’s request for a dismissal, U.S. District Judge Catherine Ann Bencivengo concluded that the theme park patrons failed to make their case under various consumer protection laws that the company misrepresented the treatment of their orcas and, therefore, knowingly induced them to visit the marine parks.

“There are no allegations of what ‘standards of care’ for killer whales that SeaWorld disregards,” Bencivengo wrote. “To the contrary, plaintiffs’ entire premise appears to be that no standards of care would be acceptable because killer whales should not be held in captivity at all. Yet, plaintiffs knew that SeaWorld held killer whales in captivity when they purchased their tickets.”

The lawsuits were filed earlier this year, amid continued attacks from animal rights activists claiming mistreatment of SeaWorld’s orcas, who they say should no longer be bred in captivity.

Most recently, the California Coastal Commission, in granting approval for a SeaWorld proposal to expand its killer whale tanks in San Diego, imposed a condition that would bar the theme park from continuing to breed its orcas. The proposed $100 million expansion project is on hold. In San Diego, SeaWorld plans to phase out its traditional theatrical Shamu show after next year and replace it with an attraction that focuses on the whales’ natural behaviors.


SeaWorld issued a statement Monday welcoming what it called a “significant” ruling.

“While this litigation was another in a series of efforts to ultimately phase out zoos and aquariums, SeaWorld and other science-based organizations are part of the solution, not the problem,” the company said. “Orcas at SeaWorld are healthy and thriving.”

Attorneys with the national class-action law firm, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, which represented some of the plaintiffs, did not return calls seeking comment. The firm has the option of appealing the ruling.

Among the many SeaWorld statements the suit challenged was the company’s claim that “These killer whales are healthy and well-adapted to their surroundings, a fact that is evident to us through our constant care, interaction and observation 24 hours per day.”


Judge Bencivengo noted that the plaintiffs failed to document when they saw such statements, nor could they prove in what way they were untrue.

She further noted that SeaWorld had no obligation to disclose the health or welfare of orcas to consumers.

“Under the standard argued by plaintiffs, any consumer would have standing to sue any company that fails to disclose product ingredients or components, or business practices that could cause that consumer to regret patronizing that business,” Bencivengo wrote.

There remains one other lawsuit targeting SeaWorld, filed earlier this year in San Francisco. It, too, claims ticket holders were deceived by SeaWorld. The company is also seeking a dismissal of that suit.


lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-2251 Twitter: @loriweisberg