While the fraud and injunctive relief claims against the platform were tossed, a judge ruled that the platform created risk of harm to minors who otherwise would have not been exposed to online casinos
In April, a class action lawsuit against Roblox, the virtual gaming platform, received a green light by a judge to proceed. The platform faced allegations related to child gambling but denied wrongdoing and urged for the lawsuit to be dismissed.
Now, the lawsuit which was initially filed back in August last year has reached a new milestone. On Thursday this week, a federal judge ruled that negligence claims against Roblox can continue but dismissed the claims about fraud, as announced by Courthouse News Service.
Injunctive Relief and Fraud Claims Dismissed
US District Judge Vince Chhabria described his ruling in a seven-page order released on Thursday. He rejected the fraud claims against Roblox and argued that the parents who filed the lawsuit failed to show that they received misleading communication from the platform.
During a hearing on the case in June, the plaintiffs said that Roblox should have notified the children about the risks related to online gambling. According to the plaintiffs, if that was done, the children’s response would’ve been different.
Judge Chhabria disagreed on that point, explaining that children are incapable of making such a decision, adding that such a choice also could not be made legally. Moreover, the plaintiffs also failed to strengthen those claims on previous occasions, leaving them insufficient, the judge argued.
“Counsel’s seat-of-the-pants comments were both implausible and contradicted by the theory underlying the current iteration of the complaint, which is that the minor plaintiffs were legally and practically incapable of making a decision about whether to gamble.“
wrote US District Judge Vince Chhabria
Judge Chhabria tossed the requests for injunctive relief citing lack of standing. He wrote that considering that the minors no longer use Roblox, they are also not expected to do so in the future. This otherwise means that there is no injury to justify the request for relief.
The Judge Allowed Negligence Claims to Proceed
In the complaint against Roblox, plaintiffs claimed that the platform enabled its in-game currency, Robux, to be used on third-party gambling websites, resulting in money lost by children. They alleged that the platform made millions in proceeds from fees required for the conversion of Robux into US dollars.
Addressing that claim, Judge Chhabria wrote: “The plaintiffs allege that Roblox has created a clearinghouse for illegal transactions within the virtual playground, and that Roblox facilitates those transactions and profits from them.” He cited the plaintiff’s claims that Roblox “created the risk of harm to the minor plaintiffs who otherwise would not have been exposed to the virtual casinos.”
According to the Judge, Roblox had the ability to foresee this harm, especially in the context of the creation of a product that delivers “addictive experiences.” As a result, the judge allowed the negligence claims against Roblox to proceed.
