Long-Running Lawsuit Ends With $100 Million Settlement
Google has agreed to pay $100 million in cash to settle a 14-year-old class-action lawsuit that alleged the company overcharged advertisers by failing to provide promised discounts and charging for clicks outside targeted geographic areas.
Legal Battle Spanning Over a Decade
- The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2011 in San Jose, California.
- Advertisers accused Google of breaching contracts by manipulating its Smart Pricing formula, reducing their expected discounts.
- Google was also alleged to have misled advertisers by failing to limit ad distribution to specific geographic locations, violating California’s unfair competition law.
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Settlement Details
- The agreement covers advertisers who used Google AdWords between January 1, 2004, and December 13, 2012.
- Google denied any wrongdoing but agreed to settle the case.
- Plaintiffs’ lawyers may seek 33% of the settlement fund as fees, plus $4.2 million in expenses.
Extensive Evidence and Mediation Efforts
- The legal process involved analyzing 910,000+ pages of documents and terabytes of click data from Google.
- The parties engaged in six mediation sessions with four different mediators before reaching an agreement.
Official Statement
Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda stated:
“This case was about ad product features we changed over a decade ago, and we’re pleased it’s resolved.”
Case Information
- Case Name: Cabrera et al v. Google LLC
- Court: U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- Case Number: 11-01263
