On December 17, 2025, Judge Matthew P. Snow of the Loudoun County Circuit Court denied Thomas Richards' request for an emergency hearing on his Motion for Temporary Restraining Order against AOL Media LLC. The Court found that the motion "does not articulate a legal docketing emergency" and directed the parties to normal docketing procedures.
The problem: normal docketing procedures cannot provide relief before January 2, 2026 -- the date AOL's new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy take effect. On that date, Thomas must either accept terms authorizing AOL to read his emails and share them with AI providers and third parties, or forfeit the email address he has used for twenty-five years.
Today, December 19, 2025, we filed a Motion for Reconsideration asking the Court to reconsider its ruling. The motion explains that a hard deadline of January 2, 2026 -- now fourteen days away -- is the definition of a legal docketing emergency. A hearing scheduled after January 2 cannot prevent the harm. After that date, the request for a temporary restraining order becomes moot.
We are awaiting the Court's response.
The case documents are embedded below.
Court's Order Denying Emergency Hearing (December 17, 2025):
Motion for Reconsideration (December 19, 2025):
Exhibit A -- AOL Terms of Service:
Exhibit B -- AOL Privacy Policy:
Exhibit C -- AOL FAQs (January 2, 2026 Deadline):
We will continue to post updates as the case progresses.
Also, see our prior blog which contains all court filings to date in the case - SpirituallySmart.Com's Blog: Virginia Lawsuit Filed Against AOL Over Coercive Email Surveillance Terms - by Lisa Weingarten Richards
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