A new twist in the famed 'Moneymaker' class action targeting online-payments giant PayPal over alleged illegal seizures of users' balances will bring the chance to participate to a global audience, via an additional partner added to the plaintiffs' expanding legal and business team. Via the addition of a new firm to the proceedings, Justitia Dao, alleged victims of PayPal will be able to assign their rights en masse to an independent manager who will then arbitrate the claim on the victims' behalf.
All of the alleged victims of PayPal's seizures are now able to access a new global intake form at paypalclassaction.net. The extended intake form explains the process through which possible claimants can join the action. Once registered, each claimant will receive, free of charge, a blockchain token that authenticates the claimant's participation in the action.
According to attorney Eric Bensamochan, the new approach addresses legal hurdles placed in the path of the original class action as initially filed. In June, PayPal successfully petitioned the court to combine the initial class action with a similar class action filed earlier, and to compel the matter to be heard by an arbitrator rather than moving to full trial proceedings.
At the time, Bensamochan promised to continue that battle, and the order sending the case to arbitration remains under appeal. Poker League of Nations founder Lena Evans remains the lead plaintiff in the case after replacing Chris Moneymaker. Moneymaker had planned to sue and retained Bensamochan for that purpose, but PayPal quickly refunded a five-figure sum to Moneymaker and made his participation moot.
“We promised Chris Moneymaker that we would not stop fighting for all of those who have been victimized by PayPal’s practices of keeping people’s hard-earned money," Bensamochan said. We have now found the way. Visit the website for an updated contribution form. There is no amount too big or small, and geographic location is not an issue for this. We will be hitting PayPal with a mass arbitration after having partnered with a third firm. We take our commitment to the community very seriously and are prepared to take this to the fullest extent possible."
Justitia Dao partnership expands case worldwide
The twist involving Justitia Dao is that aggrieved PayPal users may now join the action from any country on the planet. By assigning their rights to the "Manager", the users may also pursue claims for much smaller amounts that would normally not be worth bringing legal action to resolve. The revised action and the legal approach now being used are also intended to address the "anti-class action and anti-mass arbitration provisions," as Bensamochan described it, that PayPal's legal team is asserting within the original "Moneymaker" case.
Bensamochan shared with Poker.org that the revised action will begin with between 10,000 and 15,000 plaintiffs, and tens of thousands more are expected to join once word of the action spreads. "So far, we have close to 8,000 just in China," Bensamochan said. "We will be issuing 'tokens' via a blockchain technology to anyone and everyone who signs up. Basically we are having those with money taken assign their claims to a third party entity who in turn, will bring a mass arbitration on all of their behaves."
New plaintiffs joining the action will have to learn just enough blockchain tech to create an OpenBlock Wallet, but there's no financial risk. The issued tokens are free and signify no value other than participation in the Justitia Dao-aggregated action.
Featured image source: PayPal
