A U.S. District Court has ruled that individuals who accused Google of unlawfully collecting their personal information—despite opting not to synchronize their Google Chrome browsers with their Google accounts—cannot proceed with their claims as part of a class action lawsuit.
On Monday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, presiding in Oakland, California, sided with Google, determining that each user’s understanding and acceptance of the company’s data collection policies should be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
“Inquiries relating to Google’s implied consent defense will overwhelm the damages claims for all causes of action,” wrote Judge Rogers in her ruling.
The judge dismissed the proposed class action for monetary damages with prejudice, signifying that it cannot be refiled. Furthermore, she stated that Chrome users cannot collectively pursue policy changes against the tech giant.
David Straite, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, opted not to comment following the ruling. Sandi Knight, Google’s vice president of litigation, expressed appreciation for the court’s decision, highlighting the clear privacy controls present in Chrome Sync.
Class action lawsuits typically allow plaintiffs to pursue potentially larger financial recoveries at a reduced cost compared to individual claims.
This ruling comes in the wake of a decision made last August by the federal appeals court in San Francisco, which instructed Judge Rogers to evaluate whether reasonable users of Chrome consented to the collection of their data while they were online.
Chrome users had cited the privacy notice of the browser, which stated that no personal information is required to use Chrome and that data would only be collected if the “sync” feature was activated.
Judge Rogers previously dismissed aspects of the case in December 2022. She also noted the presence of two other privacy-related lawsuits against Google but indicated that the claims in those cases were markedly different.
The developments come in light of Google’s agreement earlier this year to delete billions of records to settle allegations that it tracked individuals who believed they were browsing privately, including those using Chrome’s “Incognito” mode.
The case in question is Calhoun et al v Google LLC, filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, under No. 22-16993.
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