Catholic priest ordered to arbitrate claims against gay dating app Grindr
Jeffrey Burrill | Photo from USCCB
LOS ANGELES – A Catholic monsignor who alleges in a lawsuit that Grindr’s improper sharing of his private information has derailed his hope to be a bishop will have to take dispute before an arbitrator rather than a jury, a judge has ruled.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Armen Tamzarian granted the gay dating app’s motion to compel arbitration of Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill’s claims.
In their court papers, Grindr lawyers contended that signing an arbitration agreement is a prerequisite to both creating a Grindr account as well as using the app.
The defense attorneys also maintained that Burrill could have opted out of the arbitration agreement and did not.
“Defendants meet their burden of proving plaintiff entered the arbitration agreement in Grindr’s terms of service by pressing a button stating he agreed to the terms,” the judge wrote, noting that the manner of entering such a contract is known as a “clickwrap” agreement.
Grindr attorneys also presented detailed evidence explaining that creating and using a Grindr account requires accepting the terms of service, including an arbitration provision, the judge further wrote.
Although the arbitration agreement offered an opt-out provision, Jeffrey Burrill presented no evidence he did so given that he said in a sworn declaration that he did not recall seeing an arbitration agreement, Tamzarian wrote.
In 2021, a Catholic media site, The Pillar, reported that Burrill had been using the app and he subsequently had to step down from his position as the general secretary of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), according to his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that alleges fraud and deceit as well as violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act and the state Unfair Competition Law.
In his declaration, Burrill said he may have used Grindr as early as 2012.
“I do not recall seeing an arbitration agreement with Grindr,” Jeffrey Burrill said. “Because I do not recall seeing an arbitration agreement, I also do not recall if I ever opted out of an arbitration agreement.”
According to Burrill’s suit, Grindr “falsely and misleadingly represents” that it does not sell its users’ data and that it takes steps to protect an individual’s privacy, Burrill’s information was bought by the Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, a theologically conservative private foundation.
The CLCR gave the data to The Pillar, which in July 2021 published worldwide and article in which Burrill’s use of Grindr was revealed and he was “smeared with false and lurid claims,” forcing him to leave his position as general secretary with the USCCB derailing his upward trajectory to the position of bishop. (CNS)
