eHarmony Blog

Here is news for those who wish to participate in the California eHarmony class action lawsuit.

After issuing a series of rulings, a Los Angeles Superior Trial Court judge has set a trial date on the case, despite eHarmony’s opening “a separate business establishment” called Compatible Partners to settle with a separate complaint with the New Jersey Attorney General.

In a press release this morning from the plaintiff’s counsel

October 23, 2009 – A California Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles cleared the way for a class action discrimination jury trial against the well-known on-line dating company eHarmony.com. The jury trial will follow a series of rulings made by Judge Anne Jones, which rejected eHarmony’s attempt to dismiss the class action. The jury trial is set to begin on February 1, 2009 and to end around Valentine’s Day. It will take place in the Superior Court in Los Angeles, near eHarmony’s headquarters in Pasadena, Calif.

In the rulings, Judge Jones found that eHarmony had not established as a matter of law that the company’s ongoing refusal to serve gays and lesbians on its flagship dating site, eHarmony.com, was legal. The Court further commented that the plaintiffs had presented competent evidence for a jury to find that eHarmony is intentionally excluding gays and lesbians from its services in order to appeal to other customers it believes are opposed to same-sex marriage. …

Earlier this year, eHarmony disclosed that it had received more than 3,000 email complaints from individuals who had visited eHarmony.com to find a relationship with someone of the same sex, but were denied the opportunity to use the service because of their sexual orientation. eHarmony made the disclosure after reaching a settlement in another matter with the New Jersey Attorney General in which the company agreed to serve gays and lesbians in a separate business establishment—a new dating website called “Compatible Partners”—that was launched in March 2009. The plaintiffs in the California class action charge that the creation of the separate “gay site” was a cynical attempt to create a “separate but equal” dynamic in violation of the law. Judge Jones is leaving that question for the jury to decide as well. …Read the press release in full

For reference, this lawsuit used to be the Lynda Kelly and Miranda Soegi class action case. The last thing we heard about this lawsuit was on 20 November 2008 when California Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney granted the motion for class certification.

A second, completely different class action lawsuit against eHarmony is also pending in the Golden State.

Would the courts order eHarmony to integrate CP into main EH? Time will tell.