TECHNOLOGY
Google fines $971k for misconduct in privacy case
The sanction was imposed after the tech giant failed to disclose key pieces of evidence relevant to the case
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An injunction issued Friday by a US judge authorizes Google to pay more than $971,000 in legal fees as part of misconduct in a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys at Boies Schiller Flexner and other companies had demanded more than $1 million in fees and costs after U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen in San Jose, California, ruled a federal court in May that Google had failed to disclose some of the documents. timely disclosure of evidence,” Reuters reported.
In 2020, Google was hit by a $5 billion privacy lawsuit over allegations of tracking user data in private or incognito mode. The fine was a result of Google’s “failure to identify witnesses, additional documents and data sources relevant to this lawsuit in a timely manner,” Judge Cologne said in a previous decision. However, Google denies the accusation.
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Per billing reports filed in the case, Boies Schiller Flexner founder David Boies’ hourly rate is worth $1,950. In total, he requested compensation for 49 hours, or about $96,000.
Google’s attorneys at Quinn Emanuel argued that the plaintiffs had not “provided justification for their decision to bring David Boies up to speed to argue the complex issues in the sanctions movement.”
Andrew Schapiro, one of Google’s attorneys, said in a statement that the plaintiffs were “seeking extreme sanctions and that they will eventually receive partial payment from their inflated bill for the time they spent filing the motion.”
As things stand, a hearing will be held in September in the Brown v. Google case.
© Dennis Publishing
