SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) – Ancestry.com is hoping to invoke an arbitration clause to fight a class action lawsuit.
The company filed a motion to compel arbitration Aug. 5 in San Diego federal court in Marta Carrera Chapple’s lawsuit, which claims Ancestry.com wrongfully renewed memberships automatically.
The lawsuit claims it enrolls members in programs that feature automatic renewals without first obtaining their affirmative consent, in violation of the California Automatic Renewal Law.
But the company says the arbitration agreement was spelled out clearly in the terms and conditions of its members’ agreements. It says other courts in other class actions have upheld the clause.
“Plaintiff’s arbitration agreement also expresses a clear and unmistakable intent to commit issues of arbitrability to the arbitrator,” the motion says. “Thus, to the extent plaintiff contends her claims are not subject to the arbitration agreement for any reason, this issue must be decided in arbitration.”
Chapple’s lawsuit alleges she never would have signed up for Ancestry.com if she knew it would enroll her in an automatically renewing program. She claims there are hundreds of other customer complaints posted on various consumer webstites.
Zach Dostart of Dostart Hannink & Coveney is representing plaintiff Marta Carrera Chapple.