November 23, 2022
This week in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, author Pat Murphy reported on the case in U.S. District Court in Boston, MA, Eubanks v. GasBuddy, LLC, in which plaintiff Caleb Eubanks filed a class action law suit against the company for engaging in “deceptive marketing practices.”
Attorney Jeffrey S. Morneau commented on the increasing prevalence of online quickwrap agreements today. Clickwrap agreements are legally binding agreements used for software liscensing, websites, and electronic media, requiring users to agree to a set of terms and conditions prior to any installation or use of online services.
Pat Murphy in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly writes, “What has become clear is terms need to be reasonably communicated and accepted,” Morneau says. “Here, I don’t think there is any dispute that it was accepted, but it seems to me that there is still a question [that needs to be answered]. Even reading the opinion, it’s not clear to me how [the terms of the agreement] were reasonably communicated to the plaintiff.”
He continues with, “Morneau adds that there’s a difference between reasonably communicating the actual terms and conditions of an arbitration agreement and reasonably communicating whether an arbitration agreement exists in the first place. “It’s different than just alerting somebody to the fact that there are terms and conditions ‘somewhere,’” Morneau says. “Here, it looked like there was a hyperlink on the screen that led to terms and conditions, and it said by signing up you agree to the terms and conditions. So when you click, ‘I agree,’ a consumer doesn’t know that there is an arbitration provision. All they know is that there are terms and conditions.”‘
To read the full article, click here.