Barbara Knapke v. Peopleconnect, Inc.

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

BARBARA KNAPKE, No. 21-35690 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v. 2:21-cv-00262-MJP

PEOPLECONNECT, INC.,

Defendant-Appellant. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Marsha J. Pechman, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted May 18, 2022 Seattle, Washington

Filed June 29, 2022

Before: Kim McLane Wardlaw, Ronald M. Gould, and Mark J. Bennett, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Bennett SUMMARY *

Choice of Law / Arbitration

The panel vacated the district court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration in an action involving a right of publicity claim against PeopleConnect, LLC under Ohio law.

Plaintiff Barbara Knapke claimed that PeopleConnect used her name and likeness in its Classmates.com school yearbook database without her consent. Knapke retained an attorney, Christopher Reilly, who created a Classmates.com account and searched for Knapke on the site. In creating the account, Reilly agreed to the Terms of Service, which contained an arbitration provision.…