A Catholic monsignor who alleges in a lawsuit that Grindr’s improper sharing of his private information has derailed his hope to be a bishop says will have to take dispute before an arbitrator rather than a jury, a judge has ruled.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Armen Tamzarian granted the gay dating app’s motion to compel arbitration of Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill’s claims. In their court papers, Grindr lawyers contended that signing an arbitration agreement is a prerequisite to both creating a Grindr account as well as using the app. The defense attorneys also maintained that Burrill could have opted out of the arbitration agreement and did not.
“Defendants meet their burden of proving plaintiff entered the arbitration agreement in Grindr’s terms of service by pressing a button stating he agreed to the terms,” the judge wrote, noting that the manner of entering such a contract is known as a “clickwrap” agreement.
Grindr attorneys also presented detailed evidence explaining that creating and using a Grindr account requires accepting the terms of service, including an arbitration provision, the judge further wrote.
Although the arbitration agreement offered an opt-out provision, Burrill presented no evidence he did so given that he said in a sworn declaration that he did not recall seeing an arbitration agreement, Tamzarian wrote.
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