Quinn Emanuel Victory Makes New Law on Payment Processing in Hotmart Case
A recent Quinn Emanuel win shows that courts will enforce forum selection clauses even when faced with putative class actions. In the case, such a clause required that claims over transactions processed abroad be filed in Amsterdam. We used an intensive, transaction-by-transaction analysis to get the suit thrown out in Manhattan federal court for our Brazilian client Hotmart B.V.
In the end, the court adopted our definition of “payment processing,” creating new law in New York and at the Second Circuit on the meaning of the term.
Hotmart operates an online marketplace in which third-party “creators” sell digital products and online courses. In August 2024 it was sued by a Washington state resident who claimed it was violating various state and federal laws due to alleged issues with certain creators’ products. The plaintiff intended to seek certification of both state and nationwide classes to bring these claims against Hotmart and its U.S. subsidiary Launch Pad.
Global Co-Managing Partner Mike Carlinsky was Hotmart’s first call, and Quinn Emanuel leaped into action with a motion to dismiss, arguing that all claims should have been brought in Amsterdam, under Hotmart’s terms and conditions.
The problem we faced: Transactions processed by Hotmart B.V. had to be challenged in Amsterdam, while those processed by Launch Pad had to be challenged in New York. The court ordered jurisdictional discovery to determine whether Hotmart or Launch Pad had processed the ones at issue.
After going through every transaction the named plaintiffs had ever made on the platform, we learned that for several transactions, proceeds were initially deposited with Launch Pad but later sent to Hotmart B.V. for further steps. We renewed our motion to dismiss, arguing that the fact that Launch Pad initially received the proceeds of the transactions didn’t mean it had processed them.
On July 10, 2026 the court ruled, dismissing the plaintiffs’ claims and finding that all of them should have been brought in Amsterdam. Meanwhile the court fully adopted our “payment processing” definition.
Our winning team, led by Mario Gazzola, included Olivia Probetts, who stepped up to lead the team shortly after she joined the firm, and led two rounds of complex briefing on the plaintiffs’ kitchen sink of consumer claims. Pedro Souza single-handedly combed through the complex transactions at issue to identify how each and every one was processed. It was his definition of payment processing that is now New York law.