Ebay Has to Pay $55.7 Million in Settlement for Its Unhinged Harassment Campaign
A civil litigation case against eBay, filed by the founders of a Massachusetts-based news site that covers ecommerce, has just been settled. Back in 2020,...
Key points
- A civil litigation case against eBay, filed by the founders of a Massachusetts-based news site that covers ecommerce, has just been settled.
- Back in 2020, six former eBay employees and one contractor were charged with participating in a horrifying campaign—featuring doxing, threats, and deliveries of live pests—against David and Ina Steiner, the husband-and-wife founders of the Massachusetts-based news site EcommerceBytes.
- In 2021, the couple filed a civil suit; EBay later agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty to the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts.
- The Steiners will receive more than $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from former CEO Devin Wenig, $500,000 from former eBay executive Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from former eBay executive Steve Wymer.
What happened
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A civil litigation case against eBay, filed by the founders of a Massachusetts-based news site that covers ecommerce, has just been settled. Back in 2020, six former eBay employees and one contractor were charged with participating in a horrifying campaign—featuring doxing, threats, and deliveries of live pests—against David and Ina Steiner, the husband-and-wife founders of the Massachusetts-based news site EcommerceBytes. In 2021, the couple filed a civil suit; EBay later agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty to the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts. The Steiners will receive more than $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from former CEO Devin Wenig, $500,000 from former eBay executive Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from former eBay executive Steve Wymer. In Massachusetts, punitive damages are typically not permitted in a standard personal injury or civil harassment case such as this one. The Steiners’s lawyers were able to successfully argue that because eBay is domiciled in California, where damages are allowed for personal civil harassment, these damages should be allowed in this particular case.