SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) - The maker of the digital card game Hearthstone is appealing a federal judge's recent decision that shot down its effort to send a class action lawsuit to arbitration.
San Diego federal judge Sunshine Sykes on Nov. 29 denied Blizzard Entertainment's motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, transfer to arbitration. She found plaintiff Y.H., a minor, disaffirmed purchases made while playing the game, which makes an arbitration agreement with users inapplicable.
Minors who sign contracts can disaffirm them before the age of majority, she wrote.
"Disaffirmance of a contract renders the contract null in its entirety," her ruling says.
The next day, Blizzard filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
At issue are virtual packs that players can buy to upgrade their deck of cards. But customers don't know what is inside the packs when buying them. Y.H., through her guardian, sued Blizzard in May in Orange County Superior Court.
Blizzard removed the case to federal court, which Sykes has ruled is the proper forum.
At issue are virtual packs that players can buy to upgrade their deck of cards. But customers don't know what is inside the packs when buying them.
"Defendant's unfair, deceptive and unlawful practices of allowing players, including minors, to pay real-world currency to gamble on winning in-game items, as well as refusing to provide refunds to minors who made in-game purchases, deceive, mislead and harm consumers, especially minor children who comprise a large segment of Defendant's player population," the suit says.
"Plaintiff and other consumers have been injured as a result of Defendant's practices, including but not limited to, having suffered out-of-pocket losses."
The plaintiff is represented by Eugene Turin of McGuire Law in Chicago. His attempt to get back to Orange County Superior Court was complicated by a refund to his client.