• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 9, 2009

AOL has agreed to donate more than $100,000 to charity to settle two lawsuits over ads in the footers of email messages. The Web company also agreed to notify all members -- paid subscribers as well as those who use the service for free -- about how to opt out of the footer ads.

The settlement, if approved, would resolve two class-action lawsuits by members who complained about the ads in footers. One lawsuit alleged that the ads were "annoying, confusing, intrusive and misleading," while the second alleged that the ads violated a federal privacy law.

AOL began inserting ads in the email footers more than three years ago. In April of 2008, the company allowed paying subscribers to opt out of the ads, but didn't proactively reach out to members to inform them they could do so.

In July of this year, AOL quietly changed its policy to allow all users to opt out of the ads. Tricia Primrose, executive vice president for corporate communications, said the decision to allow all users to eschew the ads reflects the new management team's commitment to offering users a good experience. "We're really focused on providing great consumer experiences for all of our products, including email," she said. Former Google executive Tim Armstrong took over as AOL's chief executive in April.

The lawsuit settlement calls on AOL to make donations of around $110,000 to seven charities, including the Legal Aid Foundation for Los Angeles, the Federal Judicial Center Foundation, and the Boys and Girls Club of America, according to court papers. The agreement also provides that AOL will not object to a court ordering lawyers' fees and expense reimbursements of up to $320,000.

U.S. District Court judge Christina Snyder in Los Angeles will decide whether to approve the settlement after a hearing scheduled for later this year.