Salon Phoenix Cosmetology LLC, et al. v. Groupon, Inc.

Settlement Information

1. Background on Case and Settlement Agreement

A federal court in Chicago has preliminarily approved a settlement of the putative class action lawsuit commenced in December 2022 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois captioned Salon Phoenix Cosmetology LLC, et al., v. Groupon, Inc. (Case No. 1:22-cv-07162). The complaint alleges that Groupon violated the federal Lanham Act and related state laws by: (1) creating pages on its website referring to businesses which had never had deals on Groupon that allegedly contained “stock” descriptions of such businesses and certain inaccurate information about such businesses (such pages are referred to as “Business Landing Pages” in the settlement); and (2) maintaining Deal Pages on its website after the expiration of a business’s deal on Groupon. The complaint alleges that Groupon benefitted from this conduct by driving web search traffic to its website and that businesses in the putative class were harmed by such conduct through damage to their brands.

Groupon denies all allegations but entered into the class settlement agreement to resolve the litigation without further cost, risk, and distraction. The final approval hearing for the settlement will be held on November 16, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.

Under the terms of the settlement, Groupon will make certain changes to the operation of certain pages on its website to address the concerns raised in the complaint.

2. The Terms of the Settlement Agreement

The Settlement includes proposed injunctive relief as follows:

• Groupon will provide the option for settlement class members to claim, edit, or remove the Business Landing Pages, which are listed on the Groupon website with a url extension of .biz.
• All such pages will include information about how to contact Groupon to claim the page, request an edit, or request removal of the page.
• If Groupon requires time to consider a proposed claim to edit or remove a page, Groupon will temporarily de-index the page so it cannot appear on search engine results.
• Groupon will also ensure that each Business Landing Page disclaims any affiliation with all settlement members who do not have a current or prior deal with Groupon.
• In addition, class members who have had a deal page with Groupon that has been expired for three years or more may request that Groupon de-index and remove from internet search results any expired deal page.

The Settlement Class is generally defined as follows:

All commercial entities for whom Groupon has ever created a Business Landing Page and all commercial entities that have ever offered deals through Groupon for whom Groupon maintained a Deal Page on its website after the expiration of such deal.

Released Claims

In exchange for agreeing to the injunctive relief, the Settlement Class would agree to release all non-monetary injunctive claims relating to the conduct by Groupon alleged in the Action whether already acquired or acquired in the future, including but not limited to: (a) Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125 et seq.; (b) any federal or state unfair competition, unfair practices, false advertising, consumer fraud, deceptive business, or trade practice laws; or (c) common law or statutory unfair competition claims, injunctive claims.

For more information on the Released claims, see paragraph 4(a) of the Settlement Agreement. 

3. Link to Settlement Agreement

Click here to review the full settlement agreement.

4. Link to Complaint

Click here to review the Complaint filed by the Named Plaintiffs on behalf of the class. 

There are no other substantive filings in the case, as the parties were able to reach a settlement before Groupon responded to the Complaint.

5. Class Counsel

The Court has appointed Raphael Janove of Pollock Cohen LLP as counsel to the class. Mr. Janove’s contact information is below. Class members may contact Mr. Janove for further information about the case and the settlement.

Raphael Janove

POLLOCK COHEN LLP

111 Broadway, Suite 1804

New York, NY 10006

(646) 201-5523

groupon.settlement@pollockcohen.com

6. Upcoming Events Related to the Proposed Settlement

7. How to Object to the Proposed Settlement

If you are a settlement class Member, you can object to all or any part of the Settlement, as well as any request for attorneys’ fees and/or expenses and/or any request for service awards for the Named Plaintiffs. You can explain the reasons for your objection, and the Court will consider your views.

Your objection must be in writing, sent to Class Counsel, must identify the full business name, address, telephone number, and the last four digits of the objector’s tax ID; the case name and number; a statement of the objector’s basis for any objections to the Settlement; a statement advising whether the objector plans to address the Court at the Final Approval Hearing and any legal briefs, papers or memoranda the objector proposes to submit to the Court; and, if the objector is represented by counsel, the name and address of his or her counsel.

Any person or entity that fails to object in this shall be deemed to have waived his, her, or its objections and will forever be barred from making any such objection to any aspect of the Settlement. 

8.Class Counsel Attorney Fees and Named Plaintiff Service Awards

Class Counsel intends to seek an award of Class Counsel Fees and Expenses up to $150,000, and an additional, $3,000 in service awards to each Named Plaintiff.

Class Counsel’s motion for fees and expenses will be uploaded to this website on September 20, 2023.