Judge Trims Lenovo Adware Class Action Lawsuit

The claims in a class action lawsuit alleging Lenovo preinstalled secret monitoring devices on computers were further trimmed by a federal judge.

Lead plaintiffs alleged in their class action lawsuit that VisualDiscovery, a program that monitors users’ online activity, came preinstalled on their Lenovo computers without their knowledge or consent.

The proposed Class was certified in 2016; however, the judge trimmed class action claims under state negligence and consumer protection laws and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The judge also dismissed claims of future harm.

This week, Lenovo successfully argued that class action claims under New York’s consumer protection laws should be dismissed as well. U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. noted that the class action lawsuit does not allege that any plaintiffs are New York residents or that any of the activity occurred in that state.

“Plaintiffs do not cite, nor has the court found, any case in which statutory standing under [New York’s Deceptive Acts and Practices Statute] was either found or waived based solely on a choice-­of-­law provision,” stated the memorandum and order.

The judge also denied the plaintiffs’ argument that their Lenovo laptops suffered performance and security issues due to the Superfish software.

“Plaintiffs have failed to allege sufficient facts to establish that they received less than what they paid for when they purchased Lenovo computers preloaded with VisualDiscovery software,” states the memorandum and order.

The plaintiffs will have the opportunity to amend their class action complaint by Feb. 28; however, the judge noted that this is the plaintiffs’ “final” opportunity.

Two of the plaintiffs’ proposed Classes have been certified, the Indirect Purchaser Class, includes “All persons who purchased one or more Lenovo computer models, on which VisualDiscovery was installed, in the United States from someone other than Lenovo,” and a California Class includes, “All persons who purchased one or more Lenovo computer models, on which VisualDiscovery was installed in California.”

The Lenovo class action lawsuit alleges that 40 models of Lenovo laptops came with the spying software, VisualDiscovery. The software is designed and manufactured by a third party, Superfish. The plaintiffs say the software was used to monitor their and others’ online activity and send corresponding online advertisements. The plaintiffs say that by using the Superfish software, Lenovo violated their privacy and confidentiality.

Nearly 30 class action lawsuits were lodged against Lenovo over the unauthorized software and data collection activities. The cases were consolidated into multidistrict litigation.

Software developer Superfish settled with plaintiffs in 2016.

The plaintiff’s legal team is Jonathan K. Levine and Elizabeth C. Pritzker of Pritzker Levine LLP, Daniel C. Girard, Elizabeth A. Kramer and Andre M. Mura of Girard Gibbs LLP, and Alexandra P. Summer and Stephanie D. Biehl of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP.

The Lenovo Adware Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Lenovo Adware Litigation, Case No. 4:15-md-02624, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.

UPDATE: On July 18, 2018, Lenovo laptop users have reached $8.3 million class action settlement resolving allegations that a pre-installed software program on Lenovo computer caused performance, privacy, and security issues. Top Class Actions will let our viewers know as soon as the settlement website and claim form are available.

UPDATE 2: January 2019, the Lenovo adware class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 3: On Nov. 12, 2019, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks in the mail worth up to $244.52. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!