Trudeau v. Google LLC

349 F. Supp. 3d 869
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedOctober 3, 2018
DocketCase No. 18-cv-00947-BLF
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 349 F. Supp. 3d 869 (Trudeau v. Google LLC) 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
Trudeau v. Google LLC, 349 F. Supp. 3d 869 (N.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

Id. , Ex. C ("2017 TOS"), ECF 25-2. Section 13(G) in turn states:

G. Future changes to Dispute Resolution Agreement. If Google makes any changes to this Dispute Resolution Agreement (other than a change to Google's Notice Address), Customer or Advertiser may reject any such change by notifying Google via webform as set forth in Section 13(F) within 30 days of the change. It is not necessary to submit a rejection of the future change to this Dispute Resolution Agreement if Customer or Advertiser had properly opted out of arbitration in compliance with the requirements of Section 13(F). By rejecting a future change, Customer or Advertiser is agreeing that it will arbitrate any dispute in accordance with the language of this Dispute Resolution Agreement, as modified by any changes that Customer or Advertiser did not reject.

Finally, Section 14 governs miscellaneous provisions and states:

14 Miscellaneous.... (d) These Terms are the parties' entire agreement relating to their subject matter and supersede any prior or contemporaneous agreements on those subjects.

Id.

The 2017 TOS also included, for the first time, an arbitration provision and a class action waiver. Sung Decl. ¶ 8. The arbitration provision covers, in relevant part:

13 Dispute Resolution Agreement.
A. Arbitration of disputes. Google, Customer, and Advertiser agree to arbitrate all disputes and claims between Google and Customer or between Google and Advertiser that arise out of or relate in any way to the Programs or these Terms. This agreement to arbitrate ("Dispute Resolution Agreement" or "Section 13") is intended to be broadly interpreted and includes, for example:
*8741. claims brought under any legal theory;
2. claims that arose before Customer or Advertiser first accepted any version of these Terms containing an arbitration provision;
3. claims that may arise after the termination of Customer's or Advertiser's Use of the Programs; ....

The arbitration provision also included a 30-day opt out period, stating:

F. 30-day opt out period. Customer (both for itself and for any Advertiser that Customer represents) and Advertiser have the right to opt out of this Dispute Resolution Agreement. A Customer or Advertiser who does not wish to be bound by this Dispute Resolution Agreement (including its waiver of class and representative claims) must notify Google as set forth below within 30 days of the first acceptance date of any version of these Terms containing an arbitration provision (unless a longer period is required by applicable law). Customer's or Advertiser's notice to Google under this subsection must be submitted via webform available at adwords.google.com/nav/arbitration. An opt-out notice does not revoke or otherwise affect any previous arbitration agreement between Customer and Google or between Advertiser and Google.

Clicking the link in this section took the advertiser to a webpage containing the opt out procedure. Sung Decl. ¶ 13; see id. , Ex. D, ECF 23-2.

Google gave notice of the 2017 TOS to the AdWords advertisers through multiple means, including through a direct email to the advertisers, a public blog post, and an alert on the advertisers' AdWords account. Sung Decl. ¶ 7. Each notice directed the advertisers to a webpage where they could review and accept the modified terms, which were displayed in a single embedded window. Id. ¶ 9. Above the TOS window was the following admonition: "Please review these Terms carefully. They include the use of binding arbitration to resolve disputes rather than jury trials or class actions. Please follow the instructions in the terms below if you wish to opt out of this provision." Id. , Ex. B, ECF 25-2. Advertisers were then prompted to accept or decline the terms.

Google notified Trudeau of the 2017 TOS by both email and an alert in his AdWords account. Sung Decl. ¶ 16. Trudeau accepted the 2017 TOS on September 15, 2017 and did not attempt to opt out of the arbitration provision. See id. ¶¶ 17-18.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A. Motion to Compel

The Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") applies to arbitration agreements affecting interstate commerce. 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq. When it applies, the FAA preempts state laws that conflict with its provisions or obstruct its objective to enforce valid arbitration agreements. See AT & T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion , 563 U.S. 333, 339, 341-43, 131 S.Ct. 1740, 179 L.Ed.2d 742 (2011).

The FAA reflects a strong policy in favor of arbitration. Id. at 339, 131 S.Ct. 1740 ; Ericksen, Arbuthnot, McCarthy, Kearney & Walsh, Inc. v. 100 Oak Street , 35 Cal. 3d 312, 322, 197 Cal.Rptr. 581, 673 P.2d 251 (1983). Under the FAA, contractual arbitration agreements must be enforced "save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract." Newton v. Am. Debt Servs., Inc.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
349 F. Supp. 3d 869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trudeau-v-google-llc-cand-2018.