Ebay to reappear in court over antitrust class action suit
August 3, 2010
In the class action lawsuit involving eBay and Paypal, a judge has put aside the default judgement in the case.
EBay Inc. will now appear in court for a second chance to defend itself against a sellers lawsuit brought about when complaints surfaced that eBay demands that all merchants use PayPal in order to receive payment. PayPal is an online payment service owned by the online auction website.
US District Judge John Corbett O’Meara ruled that the default judgement would be set aside in pursuit of eBay’s merchants rights to pursue a second hearing. The initial ruling was passed down on 16 June after eBay and its subsidiary PayPal failed to give a response to the class action suit. EBay had officially asked that the judgement be laid aside and O’Meara gave consent earlier last week.
According to O’Meara’s written ruling, Federal policy details that parties are better off settling disputes with a trial rather than through default rulings according to laws. He also stated that there was no evidence that the complaint had gone unheeded by the defendants. According to the associate general counsel for eBay, Michelle Fang, the online auction company is satisfied with the judge’s decision.
The class action lawsuit was originally filed by six different eBay sellers hailing from four different states. The lawsuit was originally brought against the firm back in April and alleged that eBay effectively implemented limited payment policies forcing sellers to use their own payment website, PayPal, to conduct transactions on the site. According to the suit, the policy violates the Sherman Antitrust Act by restraining trade.
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