Plaintiff Seeks Cert. in Facebook Child Credit Purchase Class Action

A woman who says a minor made in-app purchases without her consent is seeking certification of a Facebook child credit purchase class action lawsuit, arguing that the federal judge’s denial of the tech giant’s motion to dismiss her complaint naturally should enable the case to move forward.

According to the motion, Glynnis Bohannon alleges that from Feb. 23, 2008 to June 19, 2012, Facebook had a policy noting that “All sales are final,” in spite of the fact that it runs contrary to California state law. She and her class action lawsuit lawyers note that the federal judge’s order included a quote stating that businesses deal with infants “at their peril.” More importantly, however, Bohannon and the putative Class allege that the company could have done more.

For example, the company requires that developers who work within the Facebook ecosystem must accept that “transactions with minor may be voidable by law.” According to its own terms, the company “does not recognize that a minor’s purchase is voidable as a matter of law as even relevant when deciding to refund the minor’s monies.”

Further, the plaintiffs in the Facebook class action lawsuit allege that there could be steps taken during the transaction to limit the possibility of such financial transactions occurring by a minor’s usage by requiring them to input a portion of the credit card number or allowing parents to opt out of storing credit card information on a permanent basis.

More importantly, “because money is fungible, Facebook could always issue a refund by check or in other mutually-agreed method. Instead, Facebook claims to be ‘unable’ to provide such refunds, falsely suggesting that such refunds are either technically impossible or genuinely prohibited by some outside authority or law.”

The plaintiff seeks certification of a Class of all “Facebook users who are or were minor children according to Facebook’s own records for the four years preceding the date on which the original complaint was filed [in 2012] through the date on which a class is certified” and “a subclass of Minors from whose Facebook accounts Facebook Credits were purchased.”

Facebook is not the only company facing problems regarding the access for minors to purchases within apps in tablets. Apple recently settled a similar case offering $5 for future purchases for all Class Members.

The plaintiffs are represented by class action lawsuit lawyers C. Brooks Cutter and John R. Parker, Jr. of Kershaw, Cutter and Ratinoff, LLP; Daniel B. Edelman of Katz, Marshall & Banks LLP; and Benjamin Edelman.

The Facebook Child Credit Purchase Class Action Lawsuit is Glynnis Bohannon v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 12-cv-01894, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Jan. 15, 2016, the Facebook class action lawsuit reached a settlement in which the social network agreed to make things easier on parents who request refunds for in-app purchases unknowingly made by a minor, in addition to other procedural changes.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 24, 2019, documents recently unsealed after legal action by The Center for Investigative Reporting show thatFacebook bilked kids and parents out of moneyusing in-app purchases and kept doing so even though an employee had discovered a fix.