It’s usually only a matte of time until a company gets large enough and they face a class action lawsuit… that time has come for Living Social. LivingSocial was founded in 2007 and a is a web site that offers coupons to its members. A class action lawsuit has been filed against the company entitled In re LivingSocial Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation and revolves around claims that the daily deal site’s vouchers are “gift certificates” and therefore cannot legally expire for at least five years after they’re sold. As a result of this lawsuit anyone who purchased or received a Living Social deal voucher before October 2012 is considered a class member of this lawsuit and may be entitled to a settlement refund. Living Social denies that they violated any sort of law but have agreed to a $4,500,000 settlement fund approving a final fairness hearing. The original “Representative Plaintiffs” consist of a Ms. Dawn Abbott, Barrie Arliss, Cara Lauer, Mandy Miller, Melissa Forshey, Kimberly Pullman, Sarah Gosling, and Amy Schultz. The court has appointed Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP to represent all class members. Terms of the settlement authorize class members to be refunded 100% of the amount they paid for any Living Social deal voucher that they still hold and have been unable to redeem. This percent is subject to change based upon how many people file claims. Many experts in the field saw this class action lawsuit coming from a mile away.
The only way to get a settlement refund is to file a claim no later than February 8, 2013. A class member can file online or by mail. The fairness hearing will be held on March 7, 2013 at 9:30 a.m to determine of the proposed settlement is fair. The hearing will be held at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, located at 333 Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington D.C. 20001. LivingSocialVoucherSettlement.com provides the claim form, the case notice, the opt out form and other relevant court documents.
