Outcome: $1.5 Million
Wong v. TrueBeginnings, EEC d/b/a/ True.com d/b/a, 3-07CV1244-N, Northern District of Texas
In August 2006, Thomas Wong signed up for a free trial of the online dating site True.com. When his trial expired, and True.com charged him $49.99 for the next month, he decided to cancel his subscription. First, he tried to cancel on the True.com website. However, True.com required all customers to call in to cancel their subscription and did not have a way for people to cancel in writing. When Mr. Wong received another $49.99 charge in September, he called the number on True.com and cancelled his subscription. Despite cancelling, True.com charged him again in November, so he called again to re-cancel. However, Mr. Wong received yet another unexpected charge in February 2007. Once again, he called True.com to cancel and demanded a refund of the previous charges. This time, the cancellation stuck, but True.com never gave him his money back.
In 2007, Tycko & Zavareei LLP filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Wong and others like him. After three years of litigation, Tycko & Zavareei negotiated a $1,500,000 settlement for people who had been unknowingly charged for services that they had expressly stated they did not want. 654 class members received a portion of the settlement fund, and the settlement agreement required True.com to get affirmative permission from users before reactivating their subscription. With this settlement, Tycko & Zavareei won compensation for consumers who had been unfairly charged and prevented similar unauthorized charges from occurring in the future.