Last week was an action-packed week for Google Inc on the swings and roundabouts of the judicial process; winning in the Supreme Court against a consumer campaigner seeking to bring a class action for an estimated four million iPhone users, but losing to the European Commission in the General Court of the European Court of Justice. Both decisions are of heightened significance for the legal community; closing the door on one aspect of domestic class actions but opening another door to many years of litigation for Google and its regulatory detractors.
Lloyd v Google ([2021] UKSC 50)
Richard Lloyd, a consumer campaigner, brought a claim against Google after Google agreed to pay hefty fines to the US Federal Trade Commission in relation to the misuse of customers’ data through its DoubleClick Ad software. Claims followed in the courts with a US class action and a claim here by three individuals (Vidal-Hall v Google). The Vidal-Hall claim settled after attempts by Google
