{"action":{"id":"adobe-subscription-plan-class-action","slug":"adobe-subscription-plan-class-action","title":"Adobe Subscription Plan Proposed Class Action","category":"Consumer Protection","stage":"filed","tags":{"industry":["Consumer services","Technology and electronics"],"geographic":["Canada-wide"],"eligibilityTrigger":["Used a service","Held an account or contract"]},"allegationsSummary":"The lawsuits allege that Adobe Inc. and Adobe Systems Canada Inc. enrolled customers in Annual Billed Monthly (ABM) software subscriptions without properly disclosing that the plans are one-year commitments, presenting them instead as monthly plans. They claim Adobe hid key terms such as automatic renewal and an early termination fee of half the fees remaining in the subscription year, and deliberately made cancelling difficult through a complex, obstructive process. The claims say this conduct breaks consumer protection and competition laws. These are allegations only, and nothing has been proved in court.","proposedClassDefinition":"The lawsuits propose a class of people across Canada who were enrolled in an Annual Billed Monthly (ABM) subscription for an Adobe product and who either paid an early cancellation fee, or started the cancellation process but did not complete it and then paid the fee for the full year, whether because they refused to pay the early cancellation fee or because they faced prohibitive obstacles to cancelling. The Ontario case would cover residents of Canada outside Quebec, while a separate Quebec proceeding would cover Quebec residents.","whatHappensNext":"Both cases were recently filed and no court has decided whether they can go ahead as class actions. The Ontario case must first be certified, and the Quebec case must be authorized, steps that decide only whether the cases may proceed on behalf of a class, not who wins. These steps have not been scheduled, and timelines are uncertain and often run years. There is no claims process now, and one may never open unless the cases succeed or a settlement is later reached and approved.","caseBackground":"Adobe sells software through subscriptions, including a plan called Annual Billed Monthly (ABM), which the lawsuits describe as billed each month while committing the customer to a full year. Two proposed class actions, one in Ontario and one in Quebec, allege that Adobe presented these plans as ordinary monthly subscriptions and did not clearly disclose the one-year commitment, the automatic renewal, or the early termination fee charged when a customer cancels partway through the year.\n\nThe lawsuits also claim that Adobe designed its cancellation process to be deliberately complicated, using so-called dark patterns that discourage or block customers from cancelling. They point to similar concerns raised by regulators in the United States and the United Kingdom over the same practices. The plaintiffs seek refunds of subscription payments and cancellation fees, other damages, and court orders requiring clearer disclosure. None of the allegations has been tested or proved in court.","faqs":[{"answer":"No. The cases have only been filed and no court has certified or authorized them as class actions, so there is nothing to sign up for or claim at this stage.","question":"Do I need to do anything right now?"},{"answer":"No. There is no settlement and no claims process, and nothing about the outcome is certain. The lawsuits seek refunds and damages, but a court would have to allow the cases to proceed and they would have to succeed or settle first.","question":"Is there any money available now?"},{"answer":"The Ontario case proposes to cover people in Canada outside Quebec who were enrolled in an Adobe Annual Billed Monthly subscription and paid an early cancellation fee or faced obstacles cancelling, while the Quebec case proposes to cover Quebec residents in the same situation.","question":"Which case covers me?"},{"answer":"The Ontario court must certify the case and the Quebec court must authorize it, which only decides whether each case can proceed as a class action. After that, the cases would have to end in a judgment for the class or a settlement approved by the court before any claims process could exist.","question":"What has to happen before a claims process could open?"},{"answer":"There is no way to know. Class actions often take years to move through certification or authorization and any trial or settlement, and these cases are at the very beginning.","question":"How long could this take?"}],"proceedings":{"body":"The court filings behind this proposed class action.","items":[{"id":"cdd296c198dcd456","url":"https://clg.org/Class-Action/List-of-Class-Actions/Adobe-Subscription-Plan-Canadian-Class-Action","court":"Superior Court of Quebec","firms":[{"name":"Consumer Law Group Inc.","region":"Quebec"}],"stage":"filed","caseName":"L. Hamel-Roy v. Adobe Inc. and Adobe Systems Canada Inc.","dateFiled":"2026-05-07","fileNumber":"500-06-000027-264","jurisdiction":"Quebec","relationship":"parallel"},{"id":"419f23ec821b1e1a","url":"https://clg.org/Class-Action/List-of-Class-Actions/Adobe-Subscription-Plan-Canadian-Class-Action","court":"Ontario Superior Court of Justice","firms":[{"name":"Consumer Law Group P.C."}],"stage":"filed","caseName":"F. Rehman v. Adobe Inc. and Adobe Systems Canada Inc.","dateFiled":"2026-05-07","fileNumber":"CV-26-00103995-00CP","jurisdiction":"Ontario","relationship":"parallel"}],"heading":"The proceedings"},"plaintiffFirms":[{"name":"Consumer Law Group Inc.","contacts":[],"region":"Quebec"},{"name":"Consumer Law Group P.C.","contacts":[]}],"sourceDocuments":[{"url":"/uploads/e95a49830a35f3f22f201e5a-Application-for-Authorization.pdf","title":"Application-for-Authorization.pdf"},{"url":"/uploads/3883420c22a7d81853a521c9-Statement-of-Claim.pdf","title":"Statement-of-Claim.pdf"}],"filedDate":"2026-05-07","certificationHearingDate":"","optOutDeadline":null,"seriousHarmEnabled":false,"quietPresentation":false,"stageChangedAt":"2026-09-15 15:18:00","lastReviewed":"2026-09-15","outcomeSummary":"","promotedSettlementSlug":"","relatedSlugs":[],"dateAdded":"2026-09-15","lastUpdated":"2026-09-15","languages":["en","fr"]}}