SiriusXM class action over lifetime subscription dismissed

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Update:

• On June 12, 2020, U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman dismissed a class action lawsuit alleging SiriusXM Radio’s lifetime subscription should apply to the life of the individual and not the device. 
• The dismissal follows a settlement between Plaintiff Darlene Vaugh and Sirius. Court records did not disclose the terms of the settlement.

(June 12, 2018)

SiriusXM Radio Inc. is facing a class action lawsuit challenging the company’s policy of limiting lifetime subscriptions to certain devices or vehicles rather than the purchaser’s lifetime.

According to the SiriusXM class action lawsuit, Sirius Radio and XM Radio were two separate companies that offered satellite radio services.

Prior to their merger in 2009, they sold lifetime subscriptions to existing and prospective subscribers for a one-time fee.

SiriusXM reportedly has considered filing for bankruptcy protection on several occasions. In an effort to increase its revenue, it offered lifetime subscriptions to consumers.

“Purchasers of the lifetime subscriptions took a chance and paid large upfront lifetime subscription fees to Defendant with no guarantee that Defendant would survive as an ongoing business, but in the hope that if Defendant did survive, their lifetime subscription purchase would pay off over time,” the SiriusXM class action lawsuit says.

“Defendant is now failing to honor the lifetime subscriptions it sold to consumers, thereby harming those consumers who purchased the lifetime subscriptions.”

Plaintiff Darlene Vaugh of Atlantic County, N.J., says she purchased a lifetime subscription from SiriusXM in January 2017 for about $500 because she believed the membership would last for her lifetime.

She says she was not provided with any verbal or written notice about any conditions about the subscription and did not receive notice that the term “lifetime” would mean anything other than her own lifetime.

According to the Sirius XM class action lawsuit, the satellite radio provider has not allowed customers to transfer their lifetime subscription to a different receiver or automobile.

Instead, “Defendant has taken the position that the ‘lifetime’ referred to is not the lifetime of the purchasing consumer, but the lifetime of the receiver or automobile,” the SiriusXM class action lawsuit says.

“Defendant’s refusal to honor the lifetime subscriptions has allowed it to reap millions of dollars in profits while individual consumers find they have spent hundreds of dollars for a lifetime subscription that is not as it was represented and not as expected.”

Vaugh says she never received verbal or written notice that the lifetime subscription she paid for would be limited to the original device or that it would be subject to a limited number of device transfers. She says that SiriusXM has attempted to charge her a $75 transfer fee when she tried to transfer her subscription to a new device.

The SiriusXM class action lawsuit was filed on behalf on Vaugh and a proposed Class of consumers in New Jersey who purchased a lifetime subscription from SiriusXM that the satellite radio company failed to honor in the purchaser’s lifetime without limitations that had not been disclosed at the time of purchase.

Vaugh has asserted claims for breach of express contract, breach of implied contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. She seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief on behalf of herself and the proposed Class.

Vaugh is represented by Bradley K. King of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC.

The SiriusXM lifetime subscription class action lawsuit is Darlene Vaugh v. SiriusXM Radio Inc., Case No. 1:18-cv-10331, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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