Yelp Fails to Escape Privacy Rights Class Action Lawsuit

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Yelp Inc. will continue to face a privacy rights class action lawsuit alleging it made unauthorized use of users’ address book data, following a federal judge’s denial of the company’s motion for summary judgment.

U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar denied Yelp’s motion on Sept. 9, finding that a material dispute still exists as to whether app maker Yelp adequately secured users’ consent before uploading data from their smart phones’ address books.

According to plaintiffs in this Yelp class action lawsuit, the Yelp app’s “Friend Finder” feature uses consumers’ address book data to put that user in touch with other Yelp users they already know.

They allege that Yelp has been uploading and storing that address book information without users’ consent.

Though the Yelp app requires users to agree to the app’s terms and conditions, plaintiffs argue that uploading the users’ address book data is outside the scope of that consent.

Yelp moved for summary judgment earlier this year. The company argued that the plaintiffs did indeed consent to Yelp’s uploading of the address book data from their mobile phones.

The company said that all users agree to give Yelp access to their data when they sign-up to use the app. The company also claimed no harm could have resulted from the uploading because Yelp did not share or sell the uploaded data.

Judge Tigar disagreed, accepting the plaintiff’s argument that consent to access data does not equal consent to upload that data.

The judge noted that “consent is only effective if the person alleging harm consented ‘to the particular conduct, or to substantially the same conduct’ and if the alleged tortfeasor did not exceed the scope of that consent.”

He further noted that the disclosure Yelp offered to users during the Class period said nothing about uploading data. That disclosure told users only that Friend Finder would “[f]ind friends on Yelp using your Contacts” or “look at your contacts to find friends,” the judge said.

Based on the available evidence, Judge Tigar concluded that a triable dispute remains as to whether Yelp obtained effective consent to upload user data.

The Yelp class action lawsuit is a complex action reining in over a dozen other app developers including Facebook, Twitter and Apple itself.

In July 2016, Judge Tigar partially certified a plaintiff Class to bring claims against Apple and Path Inc. over allegations similar to the ones brought against Yelp.

The full proposed plaintiff Class would encompass all iOS or Android mobile device owners who acquired from Apple’s AppStore, Google’s Android Market, or Amazon.com’s Appstore for Android any app that, without the owner’s prior consent, harvested the owner’s address book data.

The specific apps implicated by the proposed Class include among others Path, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare, Yelp, LinkedIn, AngryBirds, and other unknown apps having similar address book data harvesting functionalities.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys David M. Given, Nicholas A. Carlin and Conor H. Kennedy of Phillips Erlewine Given & Carlin LLP, Michael Von Loewenfeldt, James M. Wagstaffe and Frank Busch of Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP, and Carl F. Schwenker.

The Yelp Privacy Rights Class Action Lawsuit is Opperman, et al. v. Path Inc., et al., Case No. 3:13-cv-00453, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On April 3, 2017, several app companies, including Twitter, Yelp, and Instagram, asked a federal judge to sign off on a $5.3 million preliminary settlement deal that would resolve a mobile app privacy class action lawsuit.

UPDATE 2: The Twitter, Instagram, Yelp App Privacy Class Action Settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim. 

UPDATE 3: On June 6, 2018, Top Class Actions viewers started receivingchecks in the mailworth as much as $94.55 from a class action settlement over alleged privacy violations by developers of certain apps available on the iOS mobile app. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!