I read while browsing a magazine in a doctor's office that there has
been a users' class action against Paypal.  I have had troubles of my
own with them but have not been hurt for much more than $200 - hardly
enough to get me to look for a lawyer to institute an action of my
own.  Can someone tell me what is going on and advise me how I might
tack on my own modest claim in this process?

Hi,

Although many people have been satisfied with the services of  PayPal,
the financial services company also seems to have drawn more than its
share of criticism. There are at least two major class-action lawsuits
(one in federal court and on in state court) against the company, as
summarized below.

San Francisco Class Action Lawsuit
“A class action suit has been filed in federal court on behalf of a
nationwide class comprised of all persons who opened an account with
PayPal, Inc., or its predecessors, or had money electronically
transferred from or to an account with another financial institution
in connection with a PayPal transaction. The complaint charges PayPal,
Inc. with violations of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and
California statutory and common law. The complaint alleges that PayPal
fails to provide customers with necessary information, such as an
address and telephone number, so that customers can easily report
erroneous financial transactions; that PayPal unlawfully freezes its
customers' accounts; and that PayPal fails to fully compensate
customers damaged by erroneous financial transactions.”
http://www.aboutpaypal.org/francisco_suit.htm

The announcement on the above page has contact information for the law
firm handling the suit. You can contact the firm about your possible
involvement.

The law firm also maintains an update on the lawsuit here:

Pending Cases
http://www.girardgibbs.com/cases/

PayPal Hit by Class-Action Suit
“A class-action lawsuit has been filed against PayPal, days after the
company's successful initial public offering.
“Filed Wednesday in California Superior Court in Santa Clara County,
the suit charges PayPal with illegitimately restricting customers'
access to their money. The suit asks for an unspecified amount of
damages.
“PayPal frequently locks customers' accounts if it suspects that fraud
played a part in a transaction, even if the amount in doubt is a
fraction of the total amount in an account, said Gail Koff, an
attorney and founding partner of Jacoby & Meyers, which filed the
lawsuit.”
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-842240.html

You can contact Jacoby & Meyers by filling out a form on the following
page:
http://www.jacoby-and-meyers.com/page_005.html

There isn’t much to report in terms of developments on the lawsuits.
Typically, it can take months after major lawsuits are filed for there
to be any action taken, but you can assume there is some action behind
the scenes as all sides research and maneuver. Here is the most recent
update I could find about legal action against PayPal:

Judge Rejects PayPal Arbitration
“PayPal customers who sued the online billing company, charging that
it illegally froze their accounts, cannot be forced into arbitration
to settle the dispute, a federal judge has ruled.
“In a ruling dated Aug. 30, the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California denied PayPal's motion to have the claims
asserted in two lawsuits resolved by individual arbitration, the
company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.”
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-957753.html

Here are some other pages and sites that may be of interest:

Paypal.org
This anti-PayPal site is available on a subscription basis (although
some background information is available without charge).
http://www.aboutpaypal.org/

Class Action Lawsuit Information
This site provides news about the legal action.
http://www.paypalwarning.com/ClassActionNews/

ConsumerAffairs.com
This site provides some more information about one of the lawsuits.
http://consumeraffairs.com/news02/paypal_suit.html

NoPayPal
This site provides links to more anti-PayPal information.
http://paypalsucks.com/links.shtml

Finally, you can look for further news updates through a search on the
following page:

Google News Beta – search term “paypal”
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=paypal

I hope you find this information useful.

Siuncerely,

mvguy





Google search term used: Paypal “class action”
://www.google.com/search?q=paypal+%22class+action%22

A good five bucks worth.  I would like to add another $5 for the
person who handled the response because it looks and smells like
"professional time" and I do not want to look like a shnurrer. 
However I do not want it to look like a "tip" - just a sincere
expression of thanks. - sdf