Great Philadelphia Comic Con! Sued
The Great Philadelphia Comic Con! was originally planning to hold its next event on April 3-5, 2020. According to local TV station WPVI, it was pushed back to September 2020, then April 2021. And then the organizers, Christopher and Andrew Wertz, dropped out of sight completely:
They're not the only ones, and no one seems to be able to talk to Chris or Andrew Wertz - not the Expo Center, not an event vendor we talked to, and not even the Troubleshooters, who left multiple voicemails and sent multiple emails.
However, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office was interested and responsive, and now has filed a lawsuit over it:
The lawsuit, filed this week in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, seeks a permanent injunction on business dealings by Northampton County company Great Conventions LLC as well as restitutions for Comic Con ticket holders. It also requests organizers pay civil penalties of $1,000 for each violation of consumer protection law and $3,000 for each violation involving a customer aged 60 or older.
And also:
Additionally, Great Conventions LLC and Wertz allegedly operated under the fictitious name “The Great Philadelphia Comic Con!” though that entity was not registered with the Department of State, as is required for business operations, per court documents.
The last official communication about the convention comes from a March 25 Facebook post explaining that it was impossible to hold an event under the local capacity restrictions at the time and the company was in a dire financial state:
All of you who have paid for a ticket or a table – we are still working towards honoring those, as previously stated. The shutdown of the 2020 show just one month prior to its start came at the worst possible time, as venue and hotel deposits had been made, as well as flight, marketing and advertising dollars already spent. We have been making attempts to recover some of the deposits that were made, but at this time we are not in a position to be able to offer refunds for tickets or tables.
As previously noted here, event insurance could theoretically have covered some of those already-spent dollars, but only if the pandemic managed to fall under the specific list of scenarios covered by the policy. And if the event had insurance at all, which is not known.
It is unlikely that those civil penalties will ever be paid. The lesson for other conventions in a similar bind is that it is probably better to go ahead and declare bankruptcy.
In Brief
The bid to hold the World Science Fiction Convention in Memphis in 2023 has folded, citing the complications of campaigning during the current pandemic. The remaining candidates are Winnipeg, Canada and Chengdu, China.
The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund will be holding a westbound race (sending a European fan to North America) in 2022. The winner will attend Chicon 8, next year’s Worldcon. Full announcement (PDF).
Event Calendar
Weekend of October 22-24
BuchmesseCon, Dreieich, Germany
Sirens (gender and fantasy), Denver, Colorado, USA
Atlanta Game Fest 36, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
GaelCon (gaming), virtual (usually Dublin, Ireland)
CincyCon 2021 (gaming), Hamilton, Ohio, USA
LAN All Night: ZombieLAN (video games), Dallas, Texas, USA
Biggest Little Fur Con (anthropomorphic), Reno, Nevada, USA
Sci-Fi-London 21 (film festival), London, UK
MEX (anime), Berlin, Germany
Anime Nebraskon, Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA
Anime Fusion, Plymouth, Minnesota, USA
Another Anime Convention, Westford, Massachusetts, USA
FedCon (media), Bonn, Germany
Hal-Con (media), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Baltimore Comic-Con, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
FicZone 2021 (media/gaming), Grenada, Spain
TR25 (Tomb Raider), Derby, UK
TFcon Baltimore (Transformers), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
VoltCon! 2021 (Voltron), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Weekend of October 29-31
SpoCon: Revamped, Spokane, Washington, USA
BristolCon, Bristol, UK
Les Utopiales, Nantes, France
Hallowcon 2021: Gambler's Nightmare (fantasy/horror), Dalton, Georgia, USA
The Surrey Steampunk Convivial, Epsom, UK
Ohio Valley Filk Festival (music), Worthington, Ohio, USA
Dragonflight 41 (gaming), Bellevue, Washington, USA
EuroQuest 2021 (Eurogames), Pikesville, Maryland, USA
Golden Leaves Con XI (anthropomorphic), Hasliberg, Switzerland
Furry Blacklight 9: Space Travel, Tremblay-en-France, France
Anime Halloween, Schaumberg, Illinois, USA
Oni-Con XVII (anime), Galveston, Texas, USA
SNAFU Con (anime), Reno, Nevada, USA
LumiCon (anime), Tampa, Florida, USA
Manga Barcelona (anime), Barcelona, Spain
Destination Tokyo (anime), Monthey, Switzerland
Anime Weekend Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
DerpyCon 2021 (anime), New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Yunicon 2021 (anime), Schwechat, Austria
Youmacon 2021 (anime), Detroit, Michigan, USA
SMASH! (anime), Sydney, Australia
31st Festival of Fantastic Films, Manchester, UK
All-Con (media), Dallas, Texas, USA
Soda City Comic Con, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Fan Expo Denver (media), Denver, Colorado, USA
Fanboy Expo Knoxville (media), Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Cherry Capital Comic Con, Acme, Michigan, USA
Music City Multi Con (media/video games), Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Weekend of November 5-7
ArmadaCon 2021, Plymouth, UK
IceCon 2021, Rejkjavik, Iceland
World Fantasy Convention 2021, Montréal, Québéc, Canada
Pulp Adventure, Bordentown, New Jersey, USA
Corflu 38 Concorde (fanzines), Bristol, UK
Carnage 24: Lost in the Carnage Triangle (gaming), Dover, Vermont, USA
Midwest Gaming Classic, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Retro World Expo (gaming), Hartford, Connecticut, USA
BottosCon 2021 (gaming), New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Hexcon 2021 (gaming), Trondheim, Norway
AmberCon NW (diceless RPGs), virtual (usually Troutdale, Oregon, USA)
PAWCon 2021: The Home Furront (anthropomorphic), San Jose, California, USA
NekoCon 23 (anime), Hampton, Virginia, USA
Kumoricon (anime), Portland, Oregon, USA
Anime Destiny 2021, virtual (usually Berkeley, California, USA)
FACTS (media), Ghent, Belgium
Comic Con Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
CoosaCon (media), Rome, Georgia, USA
Akron Comiccon, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA
CONjuration (Harry Potter), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Weekend of November 12-14
Novacon 50, Nottingham, UK
TusCon 48, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Windycon 47: Urban Fantastic, Lombard, Illinois, USA
OryCon 42, Portland, Oregon, USA
ArmadilloCon 2021, Austin, Texas, USA
Multiverse 2021, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
OmegaCon Fall 2021, Siren, Wisconsin, USA
New England Crime Bake 2021: Home Sweet Homicide (mysteries), Dedham, Massachusetts, USA
MEPACon 41 (gaming), White Haven, Pennsylvania, USA
Heroicon (gaming), Decatur, Illinois, USA
Bride of Geekway Mini (gaming), St. Louis, Missouri, USA
MACE 2021 (gaming), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Ludo-Outaouais (boardgames), Gatineau, Ontario, Canada
Historicon 2021: Aircraft of War (historical miniatures gaming), Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, USA
MillenniumCon (historical miniatures gaming), Round Rock, Texas, USA
Flüüfff Grand Casino (anthropomorphic), Brussels, Belgium
Bewhiskered: Prepare for Blast Off! (anthropomorphic), Durham, North Carolina, USA
Aquatifur (anthropomorphic), Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA
CanFURence 2021: The Furs Are Back in Town (anthropomorphic), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Anime Dallas, DFW Airport, Texas, USA
Anime Iwai, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
WasabiCon (anime), Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Thought Bubble (comics), Leeds, UK
Grand Rapids Comic Con, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Destination Star Trek London, London, UK
Empire City Con (Steven Universe), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Weekend of November 19-21
Fantastika 2021 (Swedish national sf convention), Stockholm, Sweden
HispaCón 2021 (Spanish national sf convention), virtual
Philcon 2021, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA
Anime NYC, New York City, New York, USA
Consequences O: Otherworldly Consequences (gaming), Christchurch, UK
U-Con 2021 (gaming), virtual (usually Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA)
BGG.CON (gaming), Dallas, Texas, USA
Anthro Northwest 4 (anthropomorphic), Seattle, Washington, USA
Con Nichiwa (anime), Tucson, Arizona, USA
Colossalcon Texas (anime), Round Rock, Texas, USA
Sin City Anime, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Anime Town: Pensacola, Pensacola, Florida, USA
London Film & Comic Con, London, UK
New England Super Megafest Comic-Con, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA
Heroes Dutch Comic Con, Utrecht, Netherlands
Vienna Comic Con, Vienna, Austria
Time-Flight 2021 (Doctor Who), Holtsville, New York, USA
Coda
The Monty Hall problem is not complete without accounting for Monty Hall (Tedium) (Hat tip: Money Stuff)
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