• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 9, 2015

LinkedIn is moving toward resolving a class-action lawsuit alleging that it wrongly sends email invitations to users' friends, court records reveal.

The social networking company and lawyers for a group of consumers say in a status report that they “have accepted a mediator’s proposal for a class action settlement subject to reaching agreement on remaining material terms and execution of a written settlement agreement.”

LinkedIn and the consumers say they intend to file a motion seeking preliminary approval of the settlement by March 24, assuming they can agree on “all material terms.”

No details yet about the possible terms were provided in the status report, which was submitted on Thursday to U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California.

The potential settlement would resolve a dispute dating to September of 2013, when four LinkedIn users -- including a former manager of international advertising sales for The New York Times -- alleged that the company violated the federal wiretap law by “hacking” into their accounts, in order to harvest their friends' email addresses.

The users also argued that LinkedIn misappropriated their names and identities by sending a series of three email invitations to their friends. The LinkedIn users acknowledged that the company asked them for permission to “grow” their networks, but argued that the service made only “cryptic disclosures” before harvesting email addresses and sending invitations to those contacts.

Koh narrowed the lawsuit last June, when she rejected the “hacking” claim on the ground that the users agreed to transmit an initial email invitation to their friends. But she also ruled that the users didn't necessarily agree to send the two follow-up emails.

LinkedIn subsequently asked Koh to dismiss all allegations relating to those two follow-up emails. Among other arguments, the social networking service said that it has a free-speech right to send follow-up emails, on the theory that the service helps people to communicate with each other.

Koh rejected LinkedIn's arguments on that point last November, after which the company and class counsel met with a mediator, in hopes of resolving the case.