Consumers suing the data collection practices of Alphabet Inc’s Google LLC have lost their initial appeal to pursue money damages as a class action seeking billions of dollars.
The plaintiffs sued Google in 2020, claiming that Google continued to collect data from users despite the use of private-browsing in Chrome’s “incognito” mode. The lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion in damages.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday rejected a plaintiffs’ bid to appeal a lower court ruling last year that denied class action status for money damage claims against Google .
The plaintiffs had sought an appeals court to hear the issue midway through the case and may still seek to revive their money damages claims when a final decision is reached. A jury trial is set for November.
Class-action status would mean that plaintiffs could make larger claims against Google as a group, as opposed to filing individual claims for monetary damages. The damages class will include at least “tens of millions” of Google browser users, court filings indicate.
The plaintiffs, whose attorneys include veteran litigator David Boies of Boies Schiller Flexner, argued in the 9th Circuit that the lower court’s denial of class certification on the damages in December was “the ‘death knell’ for many users’ damage claims.” ‘ who lack the means to prosecute the matter personally.”
Google’s attorneys at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan asked the 9th Circuit not to allow an immediate appeal and instead to wait to hear from the parties after the final order.
Google has denied that it has duped anyone on private-browsing, saying its Chrome browser users consent to the company’s data collection.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on Wednesday’s decision.
Although the decision means that the plaintiffs cannot seek money damages as a class, the lower court certified two other classes can seek other relief from Google, including curbs on certain data collection practices.
Lawyers for Boyes and the other plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a message Thursday seeking comment.
The case is Brown et al v. Google LLC, 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-80147.
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