Google Wallet Lawsuit Can’t Proceed as Class Action, Company Argues

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Google Inc. says a lawsuit alleging it improperly shared personal information about its Google Wallet customers can’t proceed as a class action lawsuit.

In its response to plaintiff Alice Svenson’s motion for class certification, Google argues that to prove it improperly shared Google Wallet customer information with app developers, Svenson would have to present case-by-case evidence for each member of her proposed plaintiff Class.

Since Svenson can’t prove that Google acted the same way towards each Class Member and caused each of them uniform harm, her claims can’t be brought as a class action lawsuit, Google argues.

The Google Wallet class action lawsuit alleges the company violates its own privacy policy by sharing information with app sellers about customers who use Google Wallet to pay for Android-based apps in the Google Play Store.

Svenson claims the data shared includes sensitive customer information like addresses and credit card numbers.

Google now claims that after three years of litigation, including discovery, Svenson doesn’t have evidence that her own Google Wallet information was improperly shared, and she certainly doesn’t have evidence the company acted that way towards her proposed Class.

Google says evidence revealed in discovery shows “no reason to believe that Svenson’s Buyer Information was shared with YCDroid,” the app seller she claims to have bought an app from.

Google alleges it doesn’t send information about its Google Wallet customers to its developers as a matter of course. The company says developers who want that information must request it on a case-by-case basis. And Svensen can’t prove that all app sellers requested data on all purchasers, the company claims.

The company also says that its privacy policy does allow it to share data with developers under certain circumstances, such as for customer support purposes. Customers are required to agree to that policy when they sign up for a Google Wallet account, the company says.

Google argues that proving violations of its privacy policy would require individualized evidence from each would-be Class Member, making Svenson’s claims unsuitable for class certification.

Svenson’s Google Wallet class action lawsuit has survived more than one attempt at dismissal over three years of litigation. In August 2014, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman allowed Svenson an opportunity to rewrite her pleadings after the judge found flaws in her claims for breach of contract and violation of the Stored Communications Act.

After Svenson submitted her amended pleadings, Google again moved for dismissal, arguing that the revised pleadings still failed to state a claim. The company argued that the customer information at issue was merely “record” information, not the contents of communications that are protected by the Stored Communications Act.

If certified by the court, Svenson’s proposed Class will represent all persons in the U.S. who used Google Wallet to buy apps from Google Play since September 2011.

Svenson is represented by attorneys Rafey S. Balabanian, Jay Edelson, Benjamin H. Richman and J. Dominick Larry of Edelson PC; Mark Bulgarelli and Frank Jablonski of Progressive Law Group LLC; and Kathryn Diemer of Diemer Whitman & Cardosi LLP.

The Google Wallet Class Action Lawsuit is Alice Svenson, et al. v. Google Inc., et al., Case No. 13-cv-04080, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.