On Monday, plaintiffs bringing a putative class action against Google filed a second amended complaint in their case against Google LLC and YouTube LLC, alleging that the companies have violated Oregon’s Automatic Renewal Law (ARL) and Free Offer Law (FOL).
Both of these laws are provisions of Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act. The alleged ongoing violations pertain to automatic renewal charges for subscriptions for YouTube TV, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium.
The three named plaintiffs are allegedly citizens of Oregon. They assert that defendants have failed to comply with provisions of the ARL and FOL that require clear disclosures and authorizations and affirmative customer consent to commence or continue automatic billing for the subscriptions.
Plaintiffs seek relief on behalf of two classes: The “Oregon Class,” consisting of “All persons in Oregon who, within the applicable statute of limitations, up to and including the date of final judgment in this action, incurred fee(s) in connection with Defendants’ YT Subscription offerings …”; and the “Oregon Subclass,” which plaintiffs define in a parallel manner to the Oregon Class except that that it is limited to persons who “… incurred fee(s) in connection with their enrollment in a free trial offer to any of Defendants’ YT Subscription offerings …”
Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief as well as attorneys’ fees, restitution, “all other forms of equitable relief,” pre-judgment interest and “actual, compensatory, statutory and/or punitive damages …”
Plaintiffs’ counsel are Bursor & Fisher, P.A. and Markowitz Herbold PC. Defendants’ counsel are Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati P.C. and Angeli Law Group LLC.
