Married Lawyer Sues eHarmony for Refusing to Help Him Find Love

A man separated from his wife but not quite divorced is suing the popular online matchmaker eHarmony for refusing to help him find a date.

John Claassen, a 36-year-old lawyer from Emeryville, filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court alleging eHarmony abridged his civil rights by refusing to match him up. He said the company, which has an "unmarried only" policy, broke state law by discriminating against him based on his marital status.

Claassen, who is seeking $12,000 in civil penalties, said Monday he expects his divorce to be official in about two months, but that he shouldn't have to wait until then to use eHarmony. It should be up to would-be dates to decide whether to pass him over because he is technically still married, he said.

Details here from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Comments

[mieke]

It is awfull for john.I want to mail him. Give him my email adress. Iam a law student.

[mieke]

If he need someone to talk to Iam ready.It is not good wath they did to him.Iam a law student in Curacao (Netherlands Antillen).I read the news and find it badly.Send a mail back to me.Buy John

[P.L.]

E-harmony has a nasty underside - I think that If Attorney Claassen posts a website asking for E-Harmony critics, he'll have 80% of their previous Clients. One must sign up first. Contrary to your assumptions of monthly payments (as advertised) they take ALL the money out of your credit card at once. Then you find there is no-one to complain to. They leave your for months with NO matches whatever, as in my case, eventually respond to my repeated complaints (mind you, you don't get a person, just an auto-reply) by "matching" me with a garbage collector, and someone with their tongue sticking out at the viewer on his introductory photograph. They then re-used my card, and again after repeated complaints, I eventually spoke with Elizabeth, who said that I hadn't complained about the re-use of the card within 7 days, and so was ineligible for a refund.

The headlines for Attorney Claassen are predictably unkind, but they're not tackling the issue that E-Harmony is taking millions from consumers using emotionally-laden advertising, and there is no-one apparently holding them to any guarantee.

[Neil C. Reinhardt]

John Claassen is an idiot and another reason so many people do not like lawyers.