Intuit Loses Bid to Avoid Mass Arbitration of TurboTax Lawsuits

TurboTax maker Intuit Inc. was denied an injunction by a California appellate panel Thursday that would have forced individual arbitration requests filed by taxpayers who used their software into small claims court.

The taxpayers, who were eligible for free tax filing services through the Internal Revenue Service but purchased tax-preparation programs through Intuit, allege the company actively concealed the existence of the free program, and told consumers they were only eligible for Intuit’s paid services.

After several consumer class actions in federal court were consolidated, Intuit won a motion to compel individual arbitration. Thousands of TurboTax users then filed individual ...