Doe 1 v. Successfulmatch.com

70 F. Supp. 3d 1066, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140531, 2014 WL 4954701
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedSeptember 30, 2014
DocketCase No.: 13-CV-03376-LHK
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 70 F. Supp. 3d 1066 (Doe 1 v. Successfulmatch.com) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe 1 v. Successfulmatch.com, 70 F. Supp. 3d 1066, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140531, 2014 WL 4954701 (N.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND

LUCY H. KOH, .United States District Judge

Plaintiffs Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) bring this First Amended Complaint, a putative class action on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated against Defendant Suc-cessfulMatch.com (“Defendant”) for violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) and California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”). (“FAC”), ECF. No. 29. Before the Court is Defendant’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint. (“Mot.”), ECF No. 41. Plaintiffs opposed the motion. (“Opp.”), ECF No. 44. Defendant replied to the opposition. (“Reply”), ECF No. 46. Defendant also requests judicial notice of a complaint filed in a parallel California state class action case, lll-CV-2111208, against Defendant for the same causes of action. (“RJN”), ECF No. 42. Having considered the submissions of the parties and the relevant law, the record in this case, and for good cause shown, the Court hereby GRANTS Defendant’s motion to dismiss for the reasons stated below.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Plaintiffs’ Factual Allegations

Plaintiff Jane Doe 1, a Canadian resident, and Plaintiff Jane Doe 2, a Washington resident, filed their FAC on May 1, 2014, against Defendant Successful-Match.com, a California corporation that operates a variety of dating sites. FAC ¶¶ 1, 4-6. Among the dating sites Defendant operates is PositiveSingles.com, which is marketed to persons with sexually transmitted diseases (“STDs”). FAC ¶ 1. PositiveSingles.com is designed to help people with STDs meet others who are similarly situated or accepting of members’ medical conditions. Id.

PositiveSingles.com allows members to register and create a profile on the site for free. Id. ¶ 12. If a member decides to use only a free membership, her profile is anonymous. Id. ¶ 15. PositiveSingles.com also offers paid memberships, and paid subscribers can disclose more information on their profiles and add a picture. Id. PositiveSingles.com’s home page asks, “Do you wish there was a place where you didn’t have to worry about being rejected or discriminated? This is a warm-hearted and exclusive community for singles and friends with STDs.” Id. ¶ 11. The home page also states: “We care about your privacy more than other sites.... ” Id. The home page contains a button with the phrase “Join for Free.” A link on the home page states: “Totally Free to Place a Fully Anonymous Profile.” Both the button and the link take a potential member to the PositiveSingles.com registration page. Id. ¶ 12.

The registration page states that Positi-veSingles.com is a “100% Confidential and Comfortable Community,” and that “[fit’s absolutely 100% FREE to try out- Positi-veSingles.... We do not disclose, sell, or rent any personally identifiable information to any third party organizations.” Id. ¶¶ 13-14. The registration page asks members to provide their first name, a username and password, email address, age, ethnicity, height, gender, gender of desired partner, location, and their medical condition. RJN Ex. IB. At the bottom of the registration page, there is a button that states “Continue and Have Fun,” which creates the profile. RJN Ex. IB. Just above the “Continue and Have Fun” button is a checkbox that states “I am 18+ and have read and agree to the [1072]*1072Service Agreement and Privacy Policy” which links to the Terms & Conditions of Service Agreement and Privacy Policy on another page. RJN Ex. 1A; FAC ¶ 16. The Terms & Conditions of Service state: “To expand the availability of profiles on SuccessfulMatch sites, profiles may be shared with other sites within the Success-fulMatch network. By posting or maintaining a profile on this or any other Suc-cessfulMatch Network site, you agree and consent that said profile shall be subject to placement on other SuccessfulMatch Network sites, at the discretion of Successful-Match, without further notice.” RJN Ex. 1A.3; FAC Ex. D.3 (emphasis added).

In addition to operating its own dating websites, Defendant allows individuals and businesses to become “private label partners” (hereafter, “affiliate partners”) by creating new online dating websites for niche audiences. RJN Ex. 1 C; FAC Ex. E. Specifically, an affiliate partner obtains a domain name and then contracts with the Defendant to help generate the affiliate dating site (hereafter “affiliate site”) at that domain name. FAC ¶¶ 17-19. Defendant provides the affiliate partner with dating software, hosting, payment processing, customer support, and the ability for the affiliate partner’s users to view user profiles in Defendant’s central membership database. Id. Defendant’s network of affiliated sites serves a diverse set of communities and the affiliate sites have domain names such as Blackpoz.com, HivAidsDating.com, HIVGayMen.com, All-Lifestyle4BBW.com, ChristianSafeHa-ven.com, and STDHookup.com among others Id. ¶ 2. Because Defendant manages a single database of member information for all of its sites, a member who registers with an affiliate site can view the profile information of any PositiveSingles.com member on the affiliate site. Id. Therefore, the profile of that member who registered for PositiveSingles.com could be viewed by members of not only PositiveS-ingles.com, but also by members of the various affiliated sites. Id.; FAC Exhs. A-C.

Plaintiffs allege that Defendant fraudulently and deceptively failed to disclose that profiles created through PositiveSin-gles.com could be viewed on Defendant’s affiliate sites. FAC ¶¶ 36-38. Plaintiffs allege that to users, PositiveSingles.com appears to be a stand-alone website. Id. ¶¶22, 38. Plaintiffs contend that Defendant induced consumers to sign up for its dating service by misrepresenting the privacy of their information with statements such as “100% Confidential and Comfortable Community” and “[Defendant does] not disclose, sell or rent any personally identifiable information to any third party organizations.” Id. ¶¶ 13-14. Plaintiffs further allege that even if members were generally aware of the existence of Defendant’s affiliate sites, it is not possible for a member to determine exactly how many and what type of sites are associated with PositiveSingles.com. Id. ¶ 23. Plaintiffs allege that Defendant had exclusive knowledge of the number and nature of the affiliate sites and actively concealed the number and nature of affiliated sites from Plaintiffs. Id. ¶¶ 36-37. Plaintiffs allege that they relied on the representations on PositiveSingles.com in purchasing memberships. Id. ¶¶ 38,40. Plaintiffs allege that they would not have paid for Positi-veSingles.com memberships in the amounts of $179.85 by Jane Doe 1 and $527.45 by Jane Doe 2 if Plaintiffs had known that their profiles would be available on all of Defendant’s affiliate sites. Id. ¶ 40.

B. Procedural History

Plaintiffs filed an original Complaint against Defendant on July 19, 2013, alleging two causes of action. ECF No. 1. Plaintiffs alleged that Defendant violated multiple provisions of California’s Consum[1073]*1073er Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”), Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1750 et seq. ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 47-57. Plaintiffs also alleged that Defendant violated California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), Cal. Bus. & Prof.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 F. Supp. 3d 1066, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140531, 2014 WL 4954701, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-1-v-successfulmatchcom-cand-2014.