Friday 24 July 2015

Legal Notice about PositiveSingles.com class action lawsuit

If you registered with PositiveSingles.com or a website
“Powered by PositiveSingles.com” between October 13, 2007 and
February 20, 2015, you could get a payment from class action settlement.
To receive your share of the Settlement, you need to complete a Claim Form at www.PositiveSinglesClassCertification.com.
A settlement has been reached in class action lawsuits about whether Successfulmatch.com (“SM.com”) used false and misleading information on its websites to attract members and displayed profiles and photographs of PositiveSingles.com (“PS.com”) members without permission. The cases are in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Santa Clara, and are called John Doe v. Successfulmatch.com, Case No. 1-11-CV-211205, and Jane Doe v. Successfulmatch.com, Case No. 1-15-CV-276983. The Court has not decided who is right. Instead, both sides agreed to a settlement to avoid the cost and risk of further litigation. SM.com denies all of the claims and allegations in the lawsuit and denies that it violated any laws or engaged in any wrongful conduct.
Who’s included? Records from SM.com and PositiveSingles.com show that you are probably included in the settlement as a member of the Non-California Class. Generally, the lawsuits include: (1) a Non-California Class consisting of everyone who registered for PositiveSingles.com or any other website that was “Powered by PositiveSingles.com” between October 13, 2007 and February 20, 2015; and (2) a California Class consisting of all California residents who registered for PositiveSingles.com or any other website that was “Powered by PositiveSingles.com” between October 13, 2007 and March 15, 2013. California Class Members are not included in the Non-California Class.
What does the Settlement provide? The settlement provides injunctive relief prohibiting SM.com from engaging in the conduct challenged by Plaintiffs in this case.  For those class members who paid membership fees to SM.com, SM.com will deposit a total of $4.25 million into a Settlement Fund. Payments into the Settlement Fund will be made in installments, with $2,025,000 paid by SM.com by September 2015 and payments of $375,000 every six months thereafter with a final payment of $350,000 in September 2018. The Settlement Fund will be used to reimburse class members for the payments made to SM.com during the class periods.  After deducting the Claims Administrator’s notice and settlement administration costs and expenses, service awards for the Representative Plaintiffs, and Class Counsel’s attorneys’ fees and costs, the net Settlement Fund will first be used to make payments to Non-California Class Members and then California Class Members. Non-California Class Members who submit a valid Claim Form will receive a payment equal to the amount of membership fees they paid to SM.com between October 13, 2007 and February 20, 2015. California Class Members will receive a payment that is proportionately equal to the membership fees paid by all California Class Members between October 13, 2007 and March 15, 2013.
How do you get a payment? You must complete and submit a Claim Form by September 22, 2015 to receive a Settlement payment. Claim Forms are available and may be submitted online at www.PositiveSinglesClassCertification.com on or before September 22, 2015.  Claim Forms may be printed from the website (www.PositiveSinglesClassCertification.com) and may also be mailed to the Claims Administrator at PositiveSingles.com Class Action, P.O. Box 43202, Providence, RI 02940-3202, if postmarked on or before September 22, 2015.
What are your rights and options?  You have a choice of whether to stay in the Non-California Class or not. If you submit a claim, file an objection or do nothing, you are choosing to stay in the Non-California Class, and you will be bound by the Court’s decisions and the terms of a Settlement Agreement and Mutual General Release. You will not be able to sue or continue to sue SM.com about the legal claims made in these cases or resolved by this Settlement. If you want to keep your right to sue SM.com yourself, you must exclude yourself by September 22, 2015. If you exclude yourself, you cannot get a payment from this Settlement, but you will keep any rights to sue SM.com for the same claims in a separate lawsuit. If you stay in the Non-California Class (i.e., do not exclude yourself), you may object to the Settlement by September 22, 2015. Visit www.PositiveSinglesClassCertification.com for details about how to act on these rights.
The Court will hold a hearing on October 9, 2015 to consider whether to approve the Settlement and a request for attorneys’ fees and expenses of up to $1.60 million to be paid in installments as funds are received from Defendant.  Class Counsel will also request a payment of $45,000 as the total service awards for the three Representative Plaintiffs. You do not have to appear at the hearing, but in order for you or your own lawyer to appear at the hearing at your own expense, you must mail a written Notice of Intention to Appear to the Claims Administrator at PositiveSingles.com Class Action, P.O. Box 43202, Providence, RI 02940-3202, postmarked on or before September 22, 2015.
How can you get more information? Go to www.PositiveSinglesClassCertification.com, call 1-800-248-1207, email PositiveSingles@kccllc.com or write to Robert S. Green, Green & Noblin, P.C., 2200 Larkspur Landing Circle, Suite 101, Larkspur, CA 94939.

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