Ancestry.com Class Action Lawsuit

"If you have ever entered into an annual subscription payable in monthly installments via Ancestry.com, a pending class action lawsuit may affect your rights." Those words appear on a recently-published page on Ancestry.com.

 

The page continues:

All persons who at any time prior to November 3, 2006, entered into one or more annual subscription agreements with MyFamily.com, Inc. through its Ancestry.com website payable in monthly installments.

The Plaintiffs allege that the Class is entitled to statutory damages under the Truth in Lending Act ("TILA") arising from the Defendants' failure to advise Class Members that the difference in price between annual subscriptions paid on a monthly basis and those paid with a one time payment constituted the cost of credit extended by the Defendants on their monthly payment plans. In addition to requesting statutory damages under TILA, Plaintiffs also have requested reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

The Defendants have at all times asserted that their conduct respecting the matters complained of in this Lawsuit has been and was in all respects entirely proper and lawful. The Defendants assert that the Plaintiffs' claims are meritless and deny all allegations of wrongdoing. The Defendants further assert they entered into this Settlement solely to avoid costs and other burdens of continued litigation. The Defendants contend that, other than for Settlement purposes, this case is inappropriate for class treatment.

Those who are affected by this class action lawsuit will have their subscriptions extended for an extra month at no additional charge. Again, quoting from the web site:

Subject to the Court's approval of the Settlement, and in consideration for the release and compromise of all claims by Class Members, Defendants will provide each Class Member, at no cost, access to all of the Defendants' subscription databases available through the Ancestry.com website for a 31 day period. Those Class Members who have one or more current subscriptions with the Defendants through the Ancestry.com website will have those subscriptions automatically extended for one month at no additional cost.

There are many more details, all written in the finest legal version of the English language. If you are affected by this class action lawsuit, you will want to read the entire text available at http://www.ancestry.com/legal/class.aspx?o_iid=21156&o_lid=21156&o_it=20875

 

Comments

[Speedy-0]

Ahem! This is a PENDING lawsuit, and NO FINAL JUDGMENT has been rendered by the court.

Retraction time, Dick?

[Dick Eastman]

Yes. That is stated in the first sentence of the article: "a PENDING class action lawsuit may affect your rights."

[David Staub]

Speedy-O is correct that this is a pending lawsuit and no final judgment has been rendered, but reading his post may lead one to conclude (erroneously) that this Ancestry.com notice is simply information about a pending lawsuit.

Those familiar with class actions will recognize this as a notice of proposed settlement, a formal step in the settlement process to end the litigation. Failing to respond DOES affect your rights. In this case, anyone who fails to take action by January 24, 2006 will be included in the class and will be bound by the terms of the settlement, assuming that it is approved by the court at the hearing on February 13. Waiting until it is no longer PENDING and a FINAL JUDMGENT has been rendered is TOO LATE to opt out.

Of course, in most class actions the individual claims are so small that opting out is not a realistic choice. However, the purpose of a notice of proposed settlement is to do exactly what Dick's write-up does - to alert you to the proposed outcome before it is too late to do anything about it.

[Greg]

Hi, I'm based in the United Kingdom and have just received a document explaining about the Lawsuit against Ancestry.com. As I had been using this service about a year ago and haven't since, I was a bit wary of this letter. What with Scams etc, so can someone explain what this is about and how genuine it is. Thanks.

[Dick Eastman]

I have not seen the letter you mentioned but suspect it is legitimate. To make sure, read the official explanation on Ancestry.com's web site at http://www.ancestry.com/legal/class.aspx?o_iid=21156&o_lid=21156&o_it=20875

[Gary D. O'Dell]

I have tried several times in the past to obtain information and have not been completely successful, working with and paying Ancestry.com very very frustrating to say the least,
I beleive that information that belongs to you or your family should not be held for $$$ by these people Respectful Gary D. O'Dell

[anna]

Hello
I got a letter from a law firm from Pittsburgh about the Ancestry classaction but have never heard from since.

[rich mealey (Seattle, WA)]

I just received an Auto-Renewal notice from these guys. That would be fine, except that I spoke to them in August to place cancel. They agreed, asked why, and I thought the deal was done. Now I'm in the position of sending threatening emails back to their fraud department. Has anyone else experienced this? Was this just a really misfortunate oversite in my one case? Does anyone know of a firm with experience fighting Ancestry.com?

My latest email reads:

"I called you in August to cancel this, and still you are demanding an "auto-renewal" - stated below. If by chance you disregard my demand to cancel - placed in August, I will do 4 things, I will require that my bank reverse any charges to your organization, I will notify the attorney general for the state of Washington about your deceptive practice, and I'll consult the FTC regarding your deceptive practices, and since I recorded the phone call with your support staff and save my email, I will encourage my attorney to initiate a class-action law suite against Ancestry.com. It's a shame. Where I once enjoyed the services of Ancestry.com, these days, I'm just furious and outraged that you would send me any kind of correspondence advising about some unlawful 'auto-renewal'. What is your problem?"

I hope it's just me, but let me know if you experienced this with Ancestry.com

[rich mealey (Seattle, WA)]

I'm happy to report that Ancestry.com responded to my email. They have done the right thing, and corrected an oversight - that's what responsible organizations are supposed to do. Kudos to Ancestry.com.