Bethany Anderson, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated v. ARB Gaming, LLC, d/b/a Modo.us

District Court, D. Oregon·Decided June 24, 2026·No. 6:25-cv-02069·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON EUGENE DIVISION

BETHANY ANDERSON, on behalf of Case No. 6:25-cv-02069-AP themselves and others similarly situated, FINDINGS AND Plaintiff, RECOMMENDATION v.

ARB GAMING, LLC, d/b/a Modo.us,

Defendant. ______________________________________ POTTER, United States Magistrate Judge: Plaintiff Bethany Anderson filed this class action complaint against Defendant ARB Gaming, LLC, d/b/a Modo.us (Modo), seeking damages and declaratory relief for alleged violations of Oregon gambling laws. Defendant moves to dismiss the case based on lack of personal jurisdiction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(2). Alternatively, Defendant moves to compel arbitration of Plaintiff’s claims based on an arbitration agreement to which Plaintiff allegedly agreed to be bound. For the reasons discussed below, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss should be DENIED. Defendant’s Motion to Compel Arbitration should be GRANTED. BACKGROUND Plaintiff is an Oregon resident who wagered and lost money on Defendant’s website. Compl. ¶ 9, ECF No. 1. She seeks to represent a class defined as “[a]ll persons in Oregon who have paid and lost money and other things of value on Modo.us.” Compl. ¶ 80. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant operates a Casino Website that is “an unregulated and illegal gambling website.” Compl ¶ 2. On the website, users can play casino-style games; users wager money to play and receive prizes such as cash or cash-equivalent gift cards if they win. Compl. ¶ 5. Plaintiff brings claims under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, Oregon’s Gambling Loss Recovery Statute, ORS 30.740, and Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act, ORS 646.605. Compl. ¶¶ 90-133. Defendant is a Delaware Limited Liability Company with its principal place of business

in Florida. Fetchmeyer Decl. ¶ 6, ECF No. 23. Defendant operates a self-described “casino- themed social game compan[y]” wherein players can play games resembling casino-based games. Def.’s Corrected Reply Mot. to Compel Arbitration 6, ECF No. 42. According to Defendant, their website “offers customers the ability to access its free-to-play social games online” which are “designed solely for amusement and entertainment.” Fetchmeyer Decl. ¶ 15. STANDARD OF REVIEW I. Personal Jurisdiction Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994). When a defendant moves to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, “the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing that jurisdiction is proper.” Ranza v.

Nike, Inc., 793 F.3d 1059, 1068 (9th Cir. 2015) (quoting CollegeSource, Inc. v. AcademyOne, Inc., 653 F.3d 1066, 1073 (9th Cir. 2011)). To establish that jurisdiction is proper, a plaintiff “may not simply rest on the ‘bare allegations of [the] complaint.’” Id. (quoting Schwarzenegger v. Fred Martin Motor Co., 374 F.3d 797, 800 (9th Cir.2004)). However, “uncontroverted allegations” in the complaint “must be taken as true, and ‘conflicts between parties over statements contained in affidavits must be resolved in the plaintiff’s favor.’” Id. (quoting Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at 800) (cleaned up). II. Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) “governs the enforceability of arbitration agreements in contracts involving interstate commerce.” Kramer v. Toyota Motor Corp., 705 F.3d 1122, 1126 (9th Cir. 2013). The FAA codifies the intent that private agreements to arbitrate are “valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the

revocation of any contract.” 9 U.S.C. § 2. To that end, the question of whether parties agreed to refer a particular dispute to arbitration, is “an issue for judicial determination unless the parties clearly and unmistakably provide otherwise.” Knapke v. PeopleConnect, Inc., 38 F.4th 824, 830– 32 (9th Cir. 2022) (quoting Howsam v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., 537 U.S. 79, 83 (2002)) (cleaned up). Once satisfied that a valid agreement exists, courts must “‘rigorously enforce’ arbitration agreements according to their terms.” Am. Exp. Co. v. Italian Colors Rest., 570 U.S. 228, 233 (2013) (quoting Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. v. Byrd, 470 U.S. 213, 221 (1985)). The FAA “leaves no place for the exercise of discretion by a district court, but instead mandates that district courts shall direct the parties to proceed to arbitration.” Dean Witter

Reynolds, Inc., 470 U.S. at 218. Thus, when considering a motion to compel arbitration, the court is limited to determining (1) whether a valid arbitration agreement exists, and if so, (2) whether the arbitration agreement encompasses the dispute at issue. Capili v. Finish Line, Inc., 116 F. Supp. 3d 1000, 1004 (N.D. Cal. 2015), aff’d, 699 F. App’x 620 (9th Cir. 2017) (citing Cox v. Ocean View Hotel Corp., 533 F.3d 1114, 1119 (9th Cir.2008)). If these conditions are satisfied, the court must compel arbitration. 9 U.S.C. § 4; Zoller v. GCA Advisors, LLC, 993 F.3d 1198, 1201 (9th Cir. 2021). Finally, when faced with questions regarding the “scope of arbitrable issues” within an agreement, courts should resolve such questions “in favor of arbitration.” Moses H. Cone Mem’l Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 24–25 (1983). Courts apply the summary judgment standard on a motion to compel arbitration because an order compelling arbitration is “in effect a summary disposition of the issue of whether or not there had been a meeting of the minds on the agreement to arbitrate.” Hansen v. LMB Mortgage Servs., Inc., 1 F.4th 667, 670 (9th Cir. 2021); Fed. R. Civ. P. 56. The party seeking to avoid arbitration “bears the burden of proving that the claims at issue are unsuitable for arbitration.”

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Bethany Anderson, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated v. ARB Gaming, LLC, d/b/a Modo.us, (D. Or. 2026).

Bethany Anderson, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated v. ARB Gaming, LLC, d/b/a Modo.us (Bethany Anderson, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated v. ARB Gaming, LLC, d/b/a Modo.us) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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