New Cert. Sought in Plimus Unlimited eBook Download Class Action Lawsuit

The plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against marketer Plimus Inc. has asked a California federal judge to to certify a Class of roughly 30,000 consumers who claim they paid fees to receive unlimited downloads of best-selling ebooks that were never available.

The proposed Class consists of all persons in the United States who paid a fee processed by Plimus to access MyPadMedia.com, TheNovelNetwork.com, and/or The ReadingSite.com.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson had previously denied class certification to plaintiff Kimberly Yordy’s motion in October 2013, saying that there were several websites offering “unlimited downloads” that the Class Members had used, and it wasn’t clear that those websites were operated in the same manner as the one she used. And so the requirements of commonality, typicality and adequacy requirements couldn’t be met, which are necessary for class certification.

However, the court had said that the plaintiff did have enough evidence for Class certification for several unlimited download websites operated by MyPadMedia.

Yordy’s new motion for Class certification is “far narrower” and only includes charges on behalf of individuals who used and paid fees to websites owned and operated by MyPadMedia, which includes MyPadMedia.com, TheNovelNetwork.com and TheReadingSite.com.

Those who have received a refund from the websites are excluded from class membership.

According to the motion, Plimus and MyPadMedia operated the three “unlimited download websites.”

“Plimus was aware of this fact, consistently referring to the ‘MyPaMedia Account,’ which encompassed the [unlimited download websites]. Accordingly, Plimus’s communications with MyPadMedia create a uniform interaction with the sites MyPadMedia operated,” the motion states.

In addition, “each of the ‘unlimited download websites’ operated in an identical fashion, with nearly identical homepages and fraudulent pitches to unsuspecting consumers.”

The motion also explains that Plimus often communicated with customers through MyPadMedia.

“These communications establish that Plimus was (a) aware of the fraudulent nature of the [unlimited download websites], (b) continued to work with MyPadMedia to promote the [unlimited download websites] and attract more customers, and (c) exercised control over their content,” the motion explains.

The plaintiff and class members were also “presented with the same deceptive offer on each MyPadMedia [unlimited download websites]: pay a one-time fee and receive unlimited access to downloadable eBooks. Plaintiff and the proposed class members paid this fee, but did not receive what the [unlimited download websites] promised.”

These allegations satisfy the commonality requirement necessary for class certification.

According to the motion, the other requirements are also satisfied in this new motion — more than 30,000 class members were injured by the defendant’s actions because of the fee they paid, proving numerosity; the class representative also paid the fee, showing typicality; Yordy and her attorneys have given a lot of time and resources to bringing this lawsuit, showing that there is adequate representation; and the small amount damages that they are seeking to recover make a class action ideal.

The charges against Plimus include false advertising, unfair competition, fraud in the inducement, fraud by omission and negligent misrepresentation.

The plaintiff is represented by Rafey S. Balabanian, Christopher L. Dore and Benjamin H. Richman of Edelson LLC.

The Plimus eBook Download Class Action Lawsuit is Yordy v. Plimus Inc., et al., Case No. 3:12-cv-00229, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.