JDSUPRA - Aug 1 - E-commerce providers usually specify a choice of law and a choice of venue in their customer agreements, and those provisions are typically honored by courts. But in certain situations, state interests in protecting its residents may override these agreed-up dispute forums, according to a recent case involving the dating service Bumble. Bumble is based in Austin, Texas and the United Kingdom. And its terms of service state that the customer's relationship with Bumble "are governed and interpreted by the laws of the State of New York." So when a class action suit was brought against Bumble in California, based on two California laws, Bumble moved to dismiss on the grounds that only New York laws, not California laws, governed its dealings with customers. The California laws raised by the plaintiffs were a Dating Service law, which allows dating service subscribers a cooling-off period, and an Automatic Renewal law, which imposes limits on subscriptions with automatic renewals and payments. Because New York allows automatic renewals for contracts lasting less than a month, the court found that California law applied, despite the contractual New York law provision.
by Mark Sableman
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