Every years thousands of people join online dating services hoping to find their perfect match. In 2010 Mary Kay Beckman decided to join those ranks as she signed up at match.com. In September of that year she was paired up with Wade Ridley and they began to date. It didn't take long for Ms. Beckman to come to the conclusion that the two of them would never be a couple. She broke off the relationship after just 8 dates and went on with her life.
Four months after that September 2010 Ms. Beckman found herself in a life and death struggle when Wade Ridley broke into her house with a knife in his hands. Ridley then charged Ms. Beckkman and stabbed her 10 times. He only stopped when the knife broke. Ms. Beckman though wasn't dead and managed to survive her wounds. Ridley was subsequently arrested for the attach and later committed suicide.
Two years later ms. Beckman has filed a lawsuit against match.com asking for $10 million claiming that the dating site should be held responsible for her near death experience in early 2011. According to her suit the online company failed to warn her or anyone else that something along these lines could happen.
A spokesperson made the following statement concerning the suit. “What happened to Mary Kay Beckman is horrible but this lawsuit is absurd. The many millions of people who have found love on Match.com and other online dating sites know how fulfilling it is. And while that doesn’t make what happened in this case any less awful, this is about a sick, twisted individual with no prior criminal record, not an entire community of men and women looking to meet each other”.
Match.com's terms of service do say in large letters that they don't do background checks and that they are not responsible for the conduct of members. Giving though that not many people read through these terms is this enough to justify their stance that they should in no way be held as a responsible party in this lawsuit?
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