Commanders Ordered to Pay for Failure to Refund Ticket Deposits

The Commanders must pay more than $600,000 after settling a lawsuit with the District of Columbia attorney general’s office regarding the alleged mishandling of season-ticket deposits, attorney general Brian L. Schwalb announced Monday.

According to Schwalb, the Commanders didn’t return deposits from season-ticket holders and made it difficult for fans to get refunds, in violation of D.C.’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act. As a result, Washington must pay approximately $200,000 to those who were impacted and $425,000 to the District of Columbia.

When the lawsuit was filed last November, the Commanders said they had not accepted premium security deposits in two decades. The team reiterated that claim in a statement Monday.

“We have not accepted security deposits or seat licenses in more than a decade and have been actively working to return any remaining deposits since 2014,” the team’s statement read. “We are pleased to have reached an agreement on the matter with the DC Attorney General and will work with the office to fulfill our obligations to our fans.”

The franchise, along with the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell, has another lawsuit outstanding about whether the team and league deceived D.C. residents concerning an investigation into the Commanders’ toxic workplace. That suit was filed by former D.C. attorney general Karl Racine in November and came after the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability had been investigating the team’s alleged workplace misconduct for a full year.

That investigation included the committee’s writing a letter to the Federal Trade Commission last April over alleged financial improprieties. That letter argues the team and owner Dan Snyder “may have engaged in a troubling, long-running, and potentially unlawful pattern of financial conduct that victimized thousands of team fans and the National Football League.”