Jdate, Christian Mingle Settles Online Dating Auto Renewal Lawsuit

The parent company of Jdate and Christian Mingle recently reached a settlement with California prosecutors, forcing the company to change their automatic renewal policies and pay almost $1.5 million in penalties and restitution.

In the subscription suit, the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office acted as counsel for the People of the State of California.

The settlement was negotiated with the assistance of a task force of prosecutors including district attorneys for Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties.

Under the settlement, parent company Spark Networks USA LLC has agreed to pay $500,000 in penalties and up to $985,000 in restitution, placing the total settlement slightly under $1.5 million.

“The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office is committed to protecting consumers from unfair and unlawful business practices,” said City Attorney Lane Dilg in a statement. “This joint effort is an important victory to ensure that consumers will not be subject to recurring charges without their clear consent.”

The settlement will resolve claims by the People of the State of California that Spark Networks failed to follow lawful subscription policies on their Jdate and Christian Mingle dating sites.

The company allegedly failed to inform consumers that their subscriptions to dating sites would automatically renew and refused to refund these subscriptions to consumers when requested. These subscription policies allegedly violated federal and state laws.

“Automatic renewal is one of the critical areas in consumer protection today,” said head of Santa Monica’s Consumer Protection Division, Chief Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky. “Consumers always have the right to know where their money is going.”

Under the settlement, Spark Networks will have to change their subscription policies to increase transparency with their consumers.

Spark Networks is now required to do the following: clearly disclose their renewal terms; get consumer consent for auto-renewal through a separate check-box that doesn’t include other terms and conditions; send a summary of terms and conditions to consumers after purchasing; and allow consumers to easily cancel their subscription.

“The separate check-box is the key,” explained Radinsky. “Otherwise, it’s confusing and consumers can’t properly consent. Companies have too many ways to hide the auto-renewal terms.”

“Jdate and Christian Mingle now will have one of the best online disclosure and consent pages in the business.”

Numerous similar settlements have been reached in California over the last couple years. In August 2017, the Santa Monica City Attorney secured a $3.6 million judgement against Beachbody. As a part of the settlement, the popular exercise and fitness company was required to implement the separate check box policy seen in the Christian Mingle settlement terms.

In January 2018, the Santa Monica City Attorney and several other prosecutors won a $2.2 million judgement against eHarmony. The dating site was accused of automatic renewal violations similar to those allegedly committed by Jdate and Christian Mingle.

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The People of the State of California are represented by Lane Dilg, Adam Radinsky, Gary Rhoades, Jeffrey Rosell, Douglas Allen, Jeffrey Rosen, Jennifer Deng, Summer Stephan, Stephen Spinella, Jackie Lacey, Hoon Chun, Jessie Lee Ann McGrath, and Duke Chau.

The Jdate Christian Mingle Lawsuit is People of the State of California v. Spark Networks USA LLC, Case No. SC129911, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.