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State of North Carolina Wake County Legalzoom.Com, Inc STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION WAKE COUNTY ll-CVS- LEGALZOOM.COM, INC., ) ~) Plaintiff/Petitioner, ) ) COMPLAINT v. ) FOR DECLARATORY AND ) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE ) BAR, ) ) Defendant/Respondent. ) ) ) Plaintiff/Petitioner LegaIZoom.com, Inc. ("LegaIZoom"), by and through its attorneys, files this Complaint. Plaintiff, complaining of Defendant, alleges and says: INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 1. This action is brought pursuant to Article I, Sections 19 and 34 of the North Carolina Constitution, the Declaratory Judgment Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 1-253 et seq. and common law, and stems from Defendant's unlawful refusal to register Plaintiffs compliant prepaid legal services plans under N.C. GEN. STAT. § 84-23.1; from Defendant's ultra vires actions and assertions that Plaintiff is prohibited from offering its services to consumers in North Carolina; from the anti-competitive, false and disparaging conduct of Defendant the North Carolina State Bar; and from Defendant's unlawful attempt to deprive Plaintiff of its right to offer its services to consumers in North Carolina. LegalZoom.com, Inc. v. The North Carolina State Bar, 11 CVS Wake County Complaint Page 2 of25 PARTIES, JURISDICTION AND VENUE 2. Plaintiff LegalZoom is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Glendale, California. Plaintiff's business includes providing legal document services and prepaid legal services plans under the name LegalZoom. 3. Defendant North Carolina State Bar ("NCSB") is an instrumentality and agency of the State of North Carolina. The NCSB was created pursuant to N.C. GEN. STAT. § 84-15: "There is hereby created as an agency of the State of North Carolina, for the purposes and with the powers hereinafter set forth, the North Carolina State Bar." 4. The NCSB is a state agency, and as such is subject to state laws applicable to all instrumentalities of the state. Thus the NCSB is subject to, and must comply with, North Carolina's Constitution, Administrative Procedure Act (N.C. GEN. STAT. §§ 150B-l to -52), State Government Ethics Act (N.C. GEN. STAT. §§ 138A-l to -45) and N.C. GEN. STAT. Chapter 84 ("Attorneys-at-Law"). 5. All of the NCSB's administrative proceedings are subject to judicial review by the State's Superior Courts. N.C. GEN. STAT. §§ 150B-43 to -52. Any action by the NCSB to enjoin the unauthorized practice of law must be brought in North Carolina Superior Court. N.C. GEN. STAT. § 84-37(c). N.C. GEN. STAT. § 84-7 authorizes criminal prosecution by North Carolina district attorneys based on information provided by members of the North Carolina bar alleging the unauthorized practice oflaw, and N.C. GEN. STAT. § 84-8 provides that unauthorized practice of law violations are misdemeanors. In addition, NCSB actions are subject to challenge in the General Court ofJustice of North Carolina. N.C. GEN. STAT. § 7A-3. LegaIZoom.com, Inc. v. The North Carolina State Bar, 11 CVS __, Wake County Complaint Page 3 of25 6. The NCSB's enforcement of N.C. GEN. STAT. § 84-15 to -38 is subject to North Carolina's constitutional prohibition against monopoliesl and the North Carolina Constitution's Law of the Land Clause.2 7. Jurisdiction and venue in this Court are proper. Specifically, this case includes claims that involve a material issue relating to the following: (1) the determination that commercial activity is or is not subject to occupational licensing laws; (2) the determination that commercial activity is required to be registered; (3) anti-monopoly, anti-competition, and antitrust law claims that are not based solely on N.C. GEN. STAT. § 75-1.1; (4) unfair competition law claims that are not based solely on N.C. GEN. STAT. § 75-1.1; and (5) the Internet and electronic commerce. FACTS 8. This is an exceptional and complex case of first impression on the facts and the law. 9. Plaintiff principally provides two services: (1) a self-help legal document service and (2) prepaid legal services plans, both of which are available on the Internet at www.LegaIZoom.com. Plaintiff's self-help legal document servIces are available online nationally and are available to consumers in North Carolina. Plaintiff's prepaid legal services plans are available in most of the United States, but are not currently offered in North Carolina pending their registration status. I "Monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free state and shall not be tolerated." N.C. CONST., art. 1, § 34. 2 "No person shall be taken, imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the law of the land. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws; nor shall any person be subjected to discrimination by the State because ofrace, color, religion, or national origin." N.C. CONST., art. 1, § 19. LegalZoom.com, Inc. v. The North Carolina State Bar, 11 CVS __, Wake County Complaint Page 4 of25 lO. Plaintiffs self-help legal document service does not select legal forms for its customers - customers make their own decisions as to which forms they believe they need. Documents are created in an automated process similar to off-the-shelf legal software available throughout the state. Customers go to the LegalZoom website, decide what form they want to purchase, fill in the intormation in the selected form, and a document is generated from standardized language based on the information and decisions made by the customer. 11. Plaintiff s prepaid legal services plans provide an efficient mechanism for delivering legal services to people in need of legal help. A consumer pays a fixed amount each month in exchange for certain service benefits to be used as and if needed. Like most legal service plans in operation today, Plaintiff's plan relies on a panel oflawyers in private practice to provide covered services.3 The basic service provided under each plan varies, but the services provided under the plans generally consist oflegal advice and consultation by telephone and may also include brief office consultations, review of simple legal documents, and short letters written or phone calls made by a lawyer to an adverse party. 12. Plaintiff, through its officers and employees, IS a member of the American Prepaid Legal Services Institute, an entity affiliated with the American Bar Association whose purpose is to act as a clearinghouse and technical assistance source for the prepaid legal services industry. 13. LegalZoom's self-help legal document service provides the standardized language that is used in the automated document-creation process; such forms are typically obtained trom state agencies or approved by licensed North Carolina attorneys. This selection takes places 3 The American Bar Association describes common features of such plans on its website. See h!1P.l{WW.:'Y.:i!J.D.9I!~.<.mQi!LQIg!gt:mm.~~mJll.~r.~R!}id)egal seryj~~'tJltlul (last visited Sep. 29, 2011). LegaIZoom.com, Inc. v. The North Carolina State Bar, 11 CVS Wake County Complaint Page 5 of25 prior to, and independent of, any customer seeking to generate a legal document. It is no different than the selection of one form from among many potential forms that is made by the author of any legal textbook, legal form book, or do-it-yourselflegal document kit. 14. Both LegalZoom's self-help legal document service and prepaid legal services plans otTer alternative low-cost personal resources to the consuming public of North Carolina in general, and to consumers oflow and moderate means in particular. 15. N.C. GEN. STAT. § 84-2.1 states that the practice oflaw is defined as "performing any legal service for any other person, firm or corporation, with or without compensation ...." (emphasis added). Accordingly, although providing legal assistance to another person can constitute the practice of law, self-help conduct undertaken by an individual on his or her own is not the practice of law. Long-standing case law has upheld the principle that the sale of legal forms and instructions and do-it-yourself legal document kits is not the unauthorized practice of law, and has held that the sale of such products and services is protected by the First Amendment. E.g., New York County Lawyers' Ass 'n v. Dacey, 21 N.Y.2d 694, 287 N.Y.S.2d 422,234 N.E.2d 459 (1967); Oregon State Bar v. Gilchrist, 272 Ore. 552, 538 P.2d 913 (1975); State Bar v. Cramer, 399 Mich. 116,249 N.W.2d 1 (1976). 16. LegalZoom' s self-help legal document service does not determine which form is appropriate for individual customers, because the process is fixed and automated. LegalZoom does not exercise legal judgment based on the facts or circumstances of any given customer's needs, nor does it provide legal assistance to individual customers. If two North Carolina customers selected the same product and answered the questions identically, they would receive identical documents. There is no discretion or independent judgment by LegalZoom. LegalZoom.com, Inc. v. The North Carolina State Bar, 11 CVS __, Wake County Complaint Page 6 of25 17. LegalZoom's self-help legal document service does not (and does not claim to) have attorneys who review the customer's documents after they are generated to determine if the forms meet the individual customer's needs. The generated documents are checked for completeness, spelling and grammar errors, and correct addresses and the like - not for legal sufficiency. This is clearly stated in numerous disclaimers throughout the website. 18. Plaintiff provides dependable and legally compliant legal document services and its document templates are prepared by attorneys.
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