LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers want to certify a class in their proposed class action against It's Just Lunch over its "personalized matchmaking service."
"IJL is in fact designed, once it lures consumers in to pay thousands of dollars each for its service, to efficiently 'match' its clients with anyone who meets a superficial list of interests," a motion for class certification filed April 17 in Los Angeles federal court says.
"This is not a 'personalized' matchmaking service at all, but an example of the same kind of fraud that resulted in IJL settling a similar class action barely months before the class period in this action began."
The firms Balestriere Fariello of New York and Kabateck LLP of Los Angeles filed the case in 2020, claiming It's Just Lunch failed to correct problems alleged in a previous case whose settlement provided up to $60 million in refunds and vouchers.
The motion for certification seeks a nationwide class with subclasses of current and former California and Virginia residents.
Parts are redacted, as lawyers allege IJL employs fewer than one matchmaker per a redacted number of customers. The nationwide class figure is also redacted.
"IJL is structurally designed in a way that makes it impossible for it to fulfill the promises it makes in its advertisements and instructs its salespersons to deliver to potential clients," the motion says.
Judge Jesus Bernal in 2021 granted parts of a partial motion to dismiss.