Court Upholds Airbnb’s Terms of Service–Selden v. Airbnb
This lawsuit alleges that Airbnb’s “hosts” racially discriminate when accepting customers’ bookings. Airbnb sought to send the case to arbitration per its Terms of Service, which the plaintiffs challenges. Contract Formation Trying to sort through the nomenclature confusion created by…
Some Comments on the CA/TX Attorneys’ General Prosecution of Backpage’s Executives
By now I’m sure you’ve heard that California Attorney General Kamala Harris is prosecuting three Backpage executives for pimping/conspiracy to pimp. This is the latest–and perhaps last–development in a decade-long effort by legislators, state AGs and local prosecutors to shut…
Spokeo Wipes Out FCRA Lawsuit Over “Improper” Mandatory Disclosures–Nokchan v. Lyft
As you recall, both the plaintiffs’ bar and defense bar declared that the Supreme Court’s Spokeo v. Robins ruling was a win for their side. Optimists might interpret that as a sign the Supreme Court found a magical win-win solution;…
Federal Court Rejects Online Gambling Lawsuit Against Valve–McLeod v. Valve
This lawsuit alleged that Valve “allowed an illegal online gambling market” based on its videogame Counter Strike Global Offensive (CSGO) and its Steam platform, an online marketplace where players can buy and sell virtual items and make payments. This lawsuit…
Overly Broad Arbitration Clause Fails–Wexler v. AT&T
Plaintiff signed up for wireless service from AT&T Mobility. The operative agreement contained an arbitration clause that covered: 1) claims arising out of or relating to any aspect of the relationship between us, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud,…
Ninth Circuit Sends Uber Driver Claims to Arbitration
This is a consolidated lawsuit brought by Uber drivers asserting FCRA and employee misclassification claims. Both named drivers were terminated after negative information surfaced in their credit report. Both drivers agreed to a 2013 version of Uber’s driver agreement, and…
Redfin Defeats Copyright Claims Due to MLS License Agreement
This is a copyright lawsuit over real estate photos. This genre of litigation has surprising vitality! Stross is a photographer and broker who participates in multiple listing services (MLSs).He alleges that Redfin infringed because (1) it used “Stross’s photographs of sold…
Anarchy Has Ensued In Courts’ Handling of Online Contract Formation (Round Up Post)
[Eric’s introduction: ever since the Ninth Circuit mishandled the already-muddled definitions of “clickwrap” and “browsewrap” in the Nguyen case, we’ve seen a steady decline in the coherence of the law of online contract formation. Judges can’t figure out whether or…
FTC Sues 1-800 Contacts For Restricting Competitive Keyword Advertising
For over a decade, I’ve blogged about 1-800 Contacts’ campaign to suppress competitive keyword advertising, including its legislative games (e.g., those times when 1-800 Contacts asked the Utah legislature to ban competitive keyword advertising) and at least 15 lawsuits against…
Judge Declines to Enforce Uber’s Terms of Service–Meyer v. Kalanick
This is an antitrust case against Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber, alleging that Mr. Kalanick “orchestrated and participated in an antitrust conspiracy.” Uber moved successfully to intervene, and then moved to force arbitration (Mr. Kalanick joined in this motion)….