In re Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig.

298 F. Supp. 3d 1285
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMarch 30, 2018
DocketCase No. 16–cv–06391–BLF
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 298 F. Supp. 3d 1285 (In re Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig.) 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
In re Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., 298 F. Supp. 3d 1285 (N.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

A district court faced with a petition to enforce an arbitration clause engages in a limited two-part inquiry: first, it determines whether the arbitration agreement is valid, and second, it determines whether the agreement encompasses the claims at issue. Ashbey v. Archstone Prop. Mgmt., Inc. , 785 F.3d 1320, 1323 (9th Cir. 2015). A district court does not consider challenges to the contract as a whole, but rather only specific challenges to the validity of the arbitration clause itself. See Rent-A-Center, W., Inc. v. Jackson , 561 U.S. 63, 70, 130 S.Ct. 2772, 177 L.Ed.2d 403 (2010) (noting the "two types of validity challenges" but holding that only challenges to the validity of the agreement to arbitrate are "relevant to a court's determination whether the arbitration agreement at issue is enforceable").

III. DISCUSSION

A. Motion to Compel Arbitration

The issue before the Court is a focused one. "[A]rbitration is a matter of contract and a party cannot be required to submit to arbitration any dispute which he has not agreed so to submit." AT & T Techs., Inc. v. Commc'ns Workers of Am. , 475 U.S. 643, 648, 106 S.Ct. 1415, 89 L.Ed.2d 648 (1986) (quoting United Steelworkers of Am. v. Warrior & Gulf Nav. Co. , 363 U.S. 574, 582, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960) ). Plaintiffs' sole contention is that they did not form an agreement to arbitrate with Samsung, an argument which the Court resolves under "ordinary state-law principles that govern the formation of contracts." First Options of Chi., Inc. v. Kaplan , 514 U.S. 938, 944, 115 S.Ct. 1920, 131 L.Ed.2d 985 (1995). Because the parties agree that the law of each Plaintiff's home state controls, the *1290Court proceeds to analyze Plaintiffs' claims by state.

1. Massachusetts

Plaintiff Holzworth is a resident of Massachusetts who purchased an S7 Edge in Massachusetts. FAC ¶ 17. The parties agree that Massachusetts law governs the question whether he formed an agreement to arbitrate with Samsung.

The parties also agree on the universe of applicable cases. In 1-A Equipment Co. v. Icode, Inc. , the Massachusetts District Court Appellate Division held that a buyer was bound by a contractual forum selection clause sent with the purchased software program even though the buyer did not receive the agreement until after the purchase was made. No. 1460, 2003 WL 549913, at *2 (Mass. App. Div. 2003). The court emphasized that an inside-the-box setup can be an efficient way to do business, especially when the alternative of orally reciting terms is costly and ineffective. Id. Likewise, in Feeney v. Dell Inc. , the Appeals Court of Massachusetts enforced an arbitration agreement, which was enclosed with the shipped product and provided that the customers would be bound by accepting delivery. 87 Mass.App.Ct. 1137, 2015 WL 4460182, at *2, *4-5 (Mass. App. Ct. 2015). The court concluded that "a purchaser of a computer, upon placing an order, would expect additional terms, such as a warranty and a period of time to return the goods, given the nature of the product involved." Id. at *4.

Both Massachusetts cases rely on two Seventh Circuit cases that approve of inside-the-box agreements; indeed, the court in 1-A Equipment explicitly "adopt[ed] the rationale of these cases." 2003 WL 549913, at *2. The Seventh Circuit considered similar facts to those in the Massachusetts cases and held that terms inside the box of a product bind consumers who keep the product beyond a specified window if the consumer has an opportunity to review the terms and reject them by returning the product. Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc. , 105 F.3d 1147, 1148 (7th Cir. 1997) ; ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg , 86 F.3d 1447, 1451 (7th Cir. 1996) ("Notice on the outside, terms on the inside, and a right to return the software for a refund if the terms are unacceptable (a right that the license expressly extends), may be a means of doing business valuable to buyers and sellers alike."). The Seventh Circuit explained that practicality favors this conclusion because "[c]ustomers as a group are better off when vendors skip costly and ineffectual steps such as telephonic recitation, and use instead a simple approve-or-return device." Hill , 105 F.3d at 1149. Moreover, the Uniform Commercial Code allows acceptance by conduct, for example by using software after having a chance to read the accompanying license. ProCD , 86 F.3d at 1452.

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Bluebook (online)
298 F. Supp. 3d 1285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-samsung-galaxy-smartphone-mktg-sales-practices-litig-cand-2018.