LinkedIn Class Action Says Members Charged for Unauthorized Fees

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A California woman says LinkedIn has been charging members for unwanted and unauthorized premium memberships.

Plaintiff Kathleen Olson says she and her proposed Class Members were all charged for LinkedIn premium memberships that they had either asked to be discontinued or never ordered it in the first place.

She claims defendant LinkedIn has been charging these fees in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

LinkedIn is a social media website that focuses on networking for professionals. According to this LinkedIn class action lawsuit, LinkedIn’s basic membership is available free of charge. The website offers a premium membership for paying members, with charges that start after a free three-month trial period, Olson says.

Olson claims she signed up for a premium LinkedIn membership in 2012, after having been a LinkedIn member since November 2011. At the beginning of this membership, she provided LinkedIn with a credit card number that the company could use to charge her the monthly fee once it kicked in after the free trial period.

At the end of her three-month trial period, Olson says she told LinkedIn she wanted to cancel her premium membership.

Earlier this year, Olson says she got a notification from LinkedIn that her credit card had reached its limit. It was only then that Olson realized LinkedIn had never cancelled her premium membership and had been charging her credit card $49.95 every month for the past five years.

Olson says the monthly charges to her card went unnoticed because she leaves the family finances to her husband, who himself never checked the balance on that particular card because he assumed no one in the family was using it.

To charge these premium membership fees, LinkedIn allegedly contracted with Synchrony Bank, whom Olson has also named as a defendant in this LinkedIn class action lawsuit.

Upon discovering the five years’ worth of premium membership fees, Olson says she contacted LinkedIn and demanded a refund. She says LinkedIn refused, stating that the company has a no-refund policy.

Olson is proposing to bring her claims on behalf of two plaintiff Classes. The Imposed Membership Fee Class would include all persons who were LinkedIn members during the last four years and who never asked or agreed to a premium membership but were nevertheless charged a premium membership fee.

The proposed Cancelled Membership Fee Class would cover all LinkedIn members over the last four years who continued to be charged for premium membership even after they cancelled that membership. Olson expects Class Members who meet these two definitions will number in the thousands.

Olson is asking the court for a permanent injunction barring LinkedIn from continuing the practices complained of here. She is also asking for restitution and disgorgement of all revenues that LinkedIn allegedly gained due to the practices at issue, plus court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Olson’s attorneys are Anthony G. Graham and Michael J. Martin of Graham & Martin LLP.

The LinkedIn Unauthorized Membership Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Kathleen Olson v. LinkedIn Corp. and Synchrony Bank, Case No. 30-2017-00927860-CU-BT-CXC, in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Orange.