A federal judge ruled on Monday that Google will have to face litigation over allegations of the company violating various laws related to fair dealing with consumers, filed by Ilana Imber-Gluck, a US woman residing in New York.
Judge Ronald Whyte of US district court in San Jose, turning down Google’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, has given a nod for further proceedings in the case filed by Ilana Imber-Gluck, who claims that her son has ran up $65.95 for Game Currency in in-game purchases, without her consent while playing the Marvel Run Jump Smash on her Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 tablet.
Whyte denied the company’s motions to dismiss parts of case that accuses Google of breaching the “duty of good faith and fair dealing” and the allegations that its advertisements were “unfair, deceptive or misleading.” He dismissed the other parts of case, but noted that he would allow a refilling if amended.
In the lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, Ilana Imber-Gluck said that she used her password to pay for a 99-cent game ‘Marvel Run Jump Smash’ and had her debit card connected to a Google Play account created for her Samsung Galaxy tablet. But, in the time of 30 minutes, when purchases can be made without re-entering the password, her son, whose age was not disclosed, racked up a $65.95 bill in in-game purchases.
This is not the first instance of lawsuits of in-app purchases, as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) back in January settled a similar case with Apple, in which the Cupertino agreed to refund at least $32.5 million to consumers.
FTC also sued Amazon earlier this month requesting a Federal court to investigate over online retailer’s in-app purchase policy and get the company repay customers.
