LinkedIn Says Email Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is ‘Meritless’

LinkedIn Corp. filed a motion Friday to dismiss a class action lawsuit accusing the professional networking company of using its “Add Connections” tool to hack into users’ third-party email accounts and download email addresses to send out unauthorized endorsement emails to nonusers of the site, saying the allegations are “meritless.”

“LinkedIn provides members with a variety of tools to expand their networks, including one called Add Connections, which allows members to import email addresses from their external email accounts and send emails inviting those contacts to join their networks,” LinkedIn wrote in its motion. “Plaintiff brings a series of meritless claims based on their contention that Add Connections is a ‘deceptive marketing scheme’ used by LinkedIn to expand its member base.”

The plaintiffs have accused LinkedIn of violating California’s Unfair Competition Law, the Stored Communications Act, the Wiretap Act and California Penal Code.

LinkedIn argues that every one of these allegations should be dismissed.

The company explains that, first, the “members consent to Add Connections accessing their email contacts and sending connection invitations.”

In the motion, LinkedIn explains that most web users will “understand that, by clicking ‘Allow’ and ‘Add Connections,’ they were consenting to the challenged actions,” and they would not see these screens as deceptive.

LinkedIn also says that the penal code violation doesn’t apply since there is no injury done to the user, and it is not like the case against Facebook, in which the social networking website took users stories and incorporated them into advertisements.

“They do not allege facts showing that connection invitations have ‘concrete, measurable and provable’ economic value,” the motion states. “Connections allows members to expand their professional networks—the very reason they join LinkedIn—not to advertise on behalf of third parties.”

The professional networking company also says that the wiretapping violations aren’t proven by the plaintiffs either.

“Plaintiffs do not allege facts showing that the importation of email addresses, or the manner in which they were imported, violates any of these statures,” LinkedIn claims.

The company says that the “plaintiffs falsely accuse LinkedIn of ‘hacking into’ the contents of email communications.”

LinkedIn, lastly, asks the court to strike the class action nature of the case, saying that if someone misunderstood the permission screens LinkedIn uses is an individual issue.

In a blog post written on the company website when the class action lawsuit was originally filed in September, LinkedIn’s Litigation Director Blake Lawit said the case was based on “misinformation.”

“We do not access your email account without your permission,” Lawit wrote. “Claims that we ‘hack’ or ‘break into’ members’ accounts are false.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Larry C. Russ, Dorian S. Berger and Daniel P. Hipskind of Russ August & Kabat.

The LinkedIn Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Perkins et al. v. LinkedIn Corp., Case No. 5:13-cv-04303, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: Details on how to file a claim for the LinkedIn Add Connections class action settlement are up! See them here.

UPDATE 4/20/16: The LinkedIn Add Connections Class Action Settlement is currently under appeal.  Claims will not be paid until all appeals are exhausted.  We appreciate your ongoing  patience. Top Class Actions will continue to provide updates as we learn more.  Keep checking back and let us know when you receive a check in the comments section below or on our  Facebook page.

UPDATE 3: On Oct. 17, 2016, Top Class Actions readers who submitted valid claims for the LinkedIn add connections class action settlement started receiving checks worth as much as $20.43! Congratulations to all our viewers who got PAID!

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