The suit came as a result of thousands of writers that have provided stories to the Huffington Post over several years and were not compensated for their efforts.

The class action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and is based on deceptive trade practices and unjust enrichment by Huffington. The suit involves digital issues and value creation.

You can view the originally filed class action as a document here.

According to Jonathan Tasini, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, “Arianna Huffington is pursuing the Wal-Martization of creative content and a Third World class of creative people.” He went on to say, “Actually, that is unfair to Wal-Mart because at least Wal-Mart pays its workers something for the value those workers create. In Arianna Huffington’s business model, economic gain is only reserved for her. Everyone else, apparently, is expected to work for free regardless of the value they create. Greed and selfishness is the order of the day.”

In a related article, Tasini told the Washington Post that the website made an “implied promise” regarding compensation.

Tasini is being represented by Attorney Jesse Strauss, who added, “We intend to prove at trial that the content and services provided by the over 9,000 members of the class created substantial value for the Huffington Post and we hope to establish a strong precedent that in the digital age content producers must be compensated for the value they create.”

Tasini, a freelance writer, was also the victor and lead plaintiff in another suit filed in 2001. Tasini v. New York Times grew into a milestone legal battle involving compensation for freelance writers that contributed archived articles in online databases. He summed up his disposition by stating, “Arianna Huffington believes she and only she should pocket the money for the value created.”

The Huffington Post is a recognizable online news source that launched in May 2005 and provides coverage of politics, media, business, entertainment, living style, the green movement, world news and comedy. It was acquired by AOL on February 7, 2011, resulting in Arianna Huffington becoming the editor-in-chief of the newly formed Huffington Post Media Group.

Image credit: Guardian.co.uk

Michael Cerkas can be reached via email at mcerkas@gmail.com