A young moviegoer in the Detroit suburb of Livonia has gone to court to fight a policy by AMC Theaters in that city to bar movie patrons from bringing in snacks, purchased outside the theater. Joshua Thompson has filed a class-action lawsuit seeking not only an end to the policy but a refund for all patrons affected by it, citing the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. "He got tired of being taken advantage of," Kerry Morgan, Thompson's lawyer, Kerry Morgan, told the Detroit Free Press . "It's hard to justify prices that are three- and four-times higher than anywhere else." He said that Thompson had previously purchased his snacks at a nearby fast-food restaurant and drug store, until the theater posted a sign banning outside food. Now, he said, the items that Thompson previously paid $2.73 for, go for $8.00 at the Livonia concession stand. But Ian Lyngklip, a Southfield, MI consumer lawyer, told the Free Press that state supreme court rulings exempt most regulated businesses from the state consumer protection law. "Movie theaters are regulated, so the lawsuit won't go anywhere," he said.

06/03/2012