Audible Will Give Out 12M Audiobooks to Settle Class Action Lawsuits

Audible will give out 12 million free audiobooks to end class action lawsuits accusing the Amazon company of cheating users out of earned credits and violating gift card laws.

The Audible settlement deal received preliminary approval from U.S. District Judge George H. Wu last week.

Under the terms of the audio book credit deal, 8.4 million users will also be reimbursed for overdraft fees they were charged when the company allegedly applied charges to a back up credit or debit card without authorization.

In addition, the audio book company will have to pay $1.5 million in attorney fees.

This Audible class action settlement is the result of 18 months of “hard-fought” litigation, and would end two related Audible lawsuits.

Before the settlement deal was reached, Audible twice attempted to have the users’ claims dismissed. Reportedly, the settlement deal was reached after mediation, two appeals, and after the claims were addressed in three venues. The initial deal was reached in November last year and minor edits were made after a December hearing.

Audible users expressed approval of the settlement, saying that “this combination of in-kind relief, a reimbursement right, and injunctive relief provides an excellent result for class members.” Users went on to say that the settlement was an excellent one “given the complexities of this case and the risks of litigation.”

Under the audiobook settlement deal, Audible has agreed to revise and clarify its advertisements, disclosures, and terms.

This will reportedly offer users more clarity on policies regarding credit expiration, auto-pay and back-up card policies. Allegedly, a lack of clarity was part of why Audible was charging back up cards without users’ consent.

In March 2017, plaintiffs Grant McKee, Eric Weber, and Michael Rogawski sued Audible for allegedly cheating users out of credits they earned for free audiobooks.

Additionally, Audible and its parent company Amazon were accused of improperly charging unauthorized cards for Audible memberships.

The Audible class action lawsuit claimed the company charged cards that were saved to users’ Amazon accounts but were not authorized for use in their Audible accounts. According to users, this was done without user consent.

Reportedly, the court transferred these claims or sent them to arbitration, but this is allegedly “tentative” and the rulings have not been adopted.

Per the acceptance of the Audible settlement deal, all of McKee, Weber, and Rogawski’s claims are resolved. Audible has agreed to notify Class Members of their settlement benefits — audiobook credits or reimbursement — via email.

The nationwide Class is broken into three subclasses based on those who lost unredeemed paid membership credits between March 2013 and August 2018, those who lost gift membership credits between August 2011 and August 2018, and those who were charged on a credit or debit card other than the designated card between March 2013 and August 2018.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The Audible users are represented b Jamin S. Soderstrom of Soderstrom Law PC.

The Audible Improperly Charged Card Class Action Lawsuits are Grant McKee, et al. v. Audible Inc. and Eric Weber, et al. v. Amazon.com Inc., et al., Case Nos. 2:17-cv-01941 and 2:17-cv-08868, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: April 2019, the Audible audiobooks class action settlement is now open.Click here to learn more.