Question

LinkedIn and Shut Out The facts of this case are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Kenny is always looking to make contacts in the business world and enhance his networking experiences. He knows how important it is to drive customers to his sports memorabilia business. He’s just a small seller in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Kenny decided to go on LinkedIn. Within the first few weeks, he received a number of requests that said, “I’d like to add you to my professional network.” At first almost all of such requests came from friends and associates he knew quite well. After a while, however, he started to receive similar requests from people he didn’t know. He would click on the “view profile” button, but that didn’t provide much useful information so he no longer looked at profiles for every request. He simply clicked the “accept” button and the “You are now connected” message appeared. One day Kenny received the following message with a request to “connect”: “I plan to come to your sports memorabilia store in the future so I thought I’d introduce myself first. I am a financial planner and have helped small business owners like yourself to develop financial plans that provide returns on their investments three times the average rate received for conventional investments. I’m confident I can do the same for you. As a qualified professional, you can trust my services.” Kenny didn’t think much about it. It certainly sounded legitimate. Besides, he would meet the financial planner soon and could judge the type of person he was. So, Kenny linked with the planner.

A week later, the financial planner dropped by Kenny’s store and provided lots of data to show that he had successfully increased returns for dozens of people. He even had testimonials with him. Kenny agreed to meet with him in his St. Paul office later that week to discuss financial planning. The meeting took place and Kenny gave the financial planner a check for $30,000, which was most of Kenny’s liquid assets. At first the returns looked amazing. Each of the first two quarterly statements he received from the planner indicated that he had already earned $5,000; a total of $10,000 in six months. Three months later Kenny did not receive a statement. He called the planner and the phone had been disconnected. He sent e-mails but they were returned as not valid. No luck with text messages. Kenny started to worry whether he ever would see his money—at least the $30,000. He was at a loss what to do. A friend suggested he contact LinkedIn and see if it could help. His online contact led to the following response in an e-mail: As per our agreement with you, we are not liable to you or others for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, opportunities, reputation, profits or revenues, related to the services of LinkedIn. In no event shall the liability of LinkedIn exceed, in the aggregate for all claims against us, an amount that is the lesser of (a) five times the most recent monthly or yearly fee that you paid for a premium service, if any, or (b) $1,000. This limitation of liability is part of the basis of the bargain between you and LinkedIn and shall apply to all claims of liability (e.g., warranty, tort, negligence, contract, law) and even if LinkedIn has been told of the possibility of any such damage, and even if these remedies fail their essential purpose. If disputes arise relating to this Agreement and/or the Services, both parties agree that all of these claims can only be litigated in the federal or state courts of Santa Clara County, California, USA, and we each agree to personal jurisdiction in those courts. To say Kenny was distraught is an understatement. He felt like he had been shut out. While he did he not understand all the legalese, he knew enough that he would have to hire an attorney if he wanted to pursue the matter. Questions:

1. How would you characterize Kenny’s thought process in the way he responded to requests to connect on LinkedIn?

2. Who is to blame for what happened to Kenny and why?

3. What would you do at this point if you were in Kenny’s position and why

Answer 1