By Stewart Tongue

YNOT – In a sternly worded decision, U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay of Dallas has dismissed half of a lawsuit filed against online dating powerhouse Match.com by a group of its paying members.

In filing the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged Match.com leaves thousands of dormant, inaccurate or deceptive user-generated profiles live on its website, despite being aware the profiles are bogus. The plaintiffs claim the policy amounts to deceptive trade practices under Texas law and constitutes a direct breach of the agreement between paying customers and Match.com parent company Match.com LLC.

The case appeared to be following in the successful footsteps of an earlier 2007 action against Yahoo Inc. which resulted in a $4 million settlement for damages attributed to Yahoo’s failure to delete fake profiles.

In dismissing the breach-of-contract claim, Lindsay noted Match.com’s user agreement “in no way requires Match.com to police, vet, update the website content” or verify accuracy of any profiles on the site.

The judge gave the plaintiffs until Aug. 27 to present additional evidence of deceptive trade practices or face having that claim thrown out as well.

The lawsuit, Robinson, et al., v. Match.com LLC (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, 10-cv-02651), originally sought class-action status but appears to be all but dead in the water in light of the ruling and the phrasing in the judge’s decision.