Korean-American golfers sue LA City over alleged neglect in tee time resale

The controversy over the resale of golf course tee times by Korean-American brokers has escalated into a class action lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.

Specifically, the lawsuit accuses the city of failing to prevent the brokers’ activities when it was aware of them. If the court approves the class action, it will likely include most golf course cardholders (Player Card) in the Los Angeles area, making it a potentially large-scale case.

The class action centers on Korean-American golfers.

According to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, five Korean-Americans who are members of a local golf players club in Southern California filed a lawsuit against LA City Golf Courses on March 21. City Golf, a division of the city of Los Angeles, currently operates and manages 12 golf courses in the Los Angeles area, including Rancho Park, Wilson, and Harding.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages and have asked the court for a jury trial. The allegations include breach of implied contract and breach of public trust.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that “problems with tee time reservations continued for several years, and eventually members of the golf club conducted their own investigation and discovered that illegal tee time reservations were being made on a widespread basis,” and that “they brought this to the attention of LA City Golf in October 2023, but no action was taken, leaving other golfers without a fair reservation process.”

According to the complaint, LA City Golf prohibits reselling, brokering, or advertising tee times without written consent. Despite this policy, it allegedly failed to prevent brokerage activity.

The complaint details the plaintiffs’ reports of the brokers’ activities and their emails with LA City Golf managers. The complaint also includes information such as the brokers’ real names, cell phone numbers, and the addresses of the online wire transfer accounts used to receive the transfer fees.

“Despite repeatedly providing the manager with additional information about the brokers and asking him to address the issue, no action was taken,” the complaint alleges, adding that “LA City Golf failed to properly enforce its policy prohibiting the resale of tee times, and the brokers took over many of the tee times, causing harm to ‘Player Card’ holders who have priority in booking.”

The complaint also alleges that if the class action status is certified, LA City Golf should issue full refunds to golfers who purchased Players Cards during the specified period.

The case will first be assigned to a judge handling class actions and must be approved by the court. If the court certifies the lawsuit, the size of the class action will be determined. The court will then appoint a class action administrator and send out notices to members of the lawsuit asking them to participate.

Yet, the controversy over Korean-American brokers booking tee times at golf courses is still raging. The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office announced on March 18 that it will officially investigate the matter. The controversy was first reported by the Korea Daily after celebrity golf coach and social media influencer Dave Fink posted a video showing the practices of Korean brokers on his channel, Dave Fink Golfs.

BY YEOL JANG, HOONSIK WOO    [jang.yeol@koreadaily.com]